HD 


$B    31    7MD 


Cvj 

^ 
eg 

o 


GIFT   ©F 


ziv.s 

V.T.  .  t- 

it 


rru  l 


2 


problems!  tn  Jltnneapoltsi 

^relimtnarp  Snbegttgation 

Ctbtc  &  Commerce  &ggoctatton 


I 


Minneapolis 
Civic  &  Commerce 

Association 
Housing  Committee 


The  Housing  Problem  in 
Minneapolis 


A  Preliminary  Investigation 

made  for 

THE  COMMITTEE  ON  HOUSING 

of  the 

Minneapolis  Civic  &  Commerce 


Association 


ow  -s  /  n  cT 


A 


Officers 


Douglas  A.  Fiske,  President 

E.  P.  Wells,  Senior  Vice  President 

C.  C.  Webber,  Vice  President  Industrial  Division 
N.  F.  Hawley,  Vice  President  Civic  Division 

F.  E.  Kenaston,  Vice  President  Traffic  Division 
Henry  Doerr,  Treasurer 

Howard  Strong,  Secretary 

Housing   Committee 

E.  H.  Hewitt,  Chairman  Harry  W.  Jones 
Allen  D.  Albert  Stiles  P.  Jones 

F.  H.  Bass  H.  N.  Leighton 
E.  N.  Best  A.  U.  Morell 
E.  H.  Brown  W.  B.  Morris 
Geo.  C.  Christian  M.  D.  Shutter 
Fred  B.  Chute  Stephen  C.  Tooker 
J.  G.  Cross  Paul  Von  Kuster 
Luther  H.  Farrington  Jonas  Weil 

J.  T.  Gerould  John  Wahlquist 

D.  P.  Jones  Phelps  Wyman 

Otto  W.  Davis,  Secretary 

Sub-Committees 

Housing  Code  E.  N.  Best 

E.  H.  Brown,  Chairman  W  B.  Morris 
H.  N.  Leighton      ';'!,         ,  V  :  Wi.  ?•.  Shutter 
Jonas  Weil         .    .,,,..........  John  Wahlquist 

New  Sub-DivisibnV  Workingmen's  Homes 

Phelps^Wyman,  Chairman  Rarry  w  ]Q^ 

Fred'  Chute  Geo.  C.  Christian 

D.P.Jones  {  *  ^°SS  ,. 

A    TT   TUT      11  J-  T.  Gerould 

A.  U.  Morell  1.    _    _ 

D.  P.  Jones 

Publicity  john  Wahlquist 

Allen  D.  Albert,  Chairman 


CONTENTS 

PREFACE 

By  Douglas  A.  Fiske 

INTRODUCTION 
The  Nature  and  Purpose  of  the  Survey 

Housing  Problem  the  Universal  Result  of  Unguided  City 
Growth — Apartment  Houses  of  the  Well-to-do  Some  Day  to  be 
Tenements  of  the  Laboring  People — Bad  Housing  is  Widely 
Distributed  in  Minneapolis — The  Investigation  Occupied  Several 
Months — Types  and  Location  of  Bad  Housing  Structures— Dilap- 
idation Frequently  Found — Number  of  Stories  and  Apartments. 
Pages  11  to  17. 

Chapter  I 

THE  RESULTS  OF  INADEQUATE  HOUSING 
REGULATION 

Excessive  Lot  Occupation,  Basement  Habitation, 
Dark  Rooms,  Kitchenette  Problems,  Lack  of  Ventilation, 
Inadequate  Toilet  Facilities,  Absence  of  Bath  and  Hot 
Water. 

Excessive  Lot  Occupation  Prevalent — May  Still  Cover  En- 
tire Lot — Yards  Usurped  by  Stairways — Two  Kinds  of  Conges- 
tion Evident — A  Dismal  Prospect  for  the  Future — Chicago  Try- 
ing to  Lower  Percentage  of  Lot  Covered — Filthy  Stables  on 
Tenement  Lots — A  Population  Below  Ground — Families  in  Base- 
ment Homes — City  Has  Hundreds  of  Basement  Apartments — 
Basement  Apartments  Usually  Dark — Basement  Apartments 
Usually  Damp — Basement  Occupation  Should  Be  Regulated  if 
Not  Prohibited — Janitors'  Quarters  in  Basements — A  Population 
in  Darkness  — A  Thousand  Dark  Tenement  Rooms  in  Minneap- 
olis— Dark  Rooms  in  the  Making — Dark  Rooms  in  Dwellings — 
Many  Dark  Rooms  in  Basements  —  Dark  Rooms  as  Sleeping 
Rooms — Amendment  Passed  Inadequate — Shame  of  Dark  Rooms 
in  New  Structures — Dark  Rooms  Legalized  — The  Kitchenette 
Problem — Kitchenettes  are  Ill-Ventilated — Unsanitary  Possi- 


393441 


MINNEAPOLIS  CIVIC  &  COMMERCE  ASSOCIATION 

bilities  of  Kitchenettes — A  Population  without  Sufficient  Air — 

Lack  of  Ventilation  Prevalent — Impressive  Example  of  Non- 
Ventilation — The  Window  Which  Cannot  Be  Opened — 111- Ven- 
tilation Due  to  Narrow  Courts,  Inadequate  Vent  Shafts,  and 
Absence  of  Windows — Present  Ordinance  Inadequate — Narrow 
Courts  Cut  Off  Ventilation — Narrow  Courts  Gather  Filth— 
A  Population  Without  the  Common  Decencies —  Shameful  Lack 
of  Toilet  Facilities — Excessive  Number  of  Families  Per  Closet — 
Contamination  from  Closets — Evils  of  Diffused  Responsibility — 
Alarming  Lack  of  Sanitation — Enclosed  Plumbing  Means  Filth — 
An  Unwashed  Population — Absence  of  Bath  Rooms  and  Hot 
Water — Are  Bath  Tubs  a  Necessity  or  a  Luxury.  Pages  18  to  61. 

Chapter  II 
PERILOUS  NEGLECT 

Water  Supply,  Slop  Disposal,  Garbage  and  Ashes 
Disposal,  and  Dilapidation. 

Insufficient  Water  Supply  -  Wells  and  Cisterns  Supply 
Many  Families  —  Water  a  Precious  Commodity  —  Unsanitary 
Disposition  of  Kitchen  Slops — The  Back  Yard  as  a  Slop  Sink- 
No  Water  Means  No  Sink— Ashes  and  Garbage,  An  Eyesore 
and  a  Menace — For  Lack  of  a  System — Dilapidation — Repairs 
Neglected.  Pages  62  to  77. 

Chapter  III 
DANGEROUS  TENDENCIES 

The  Tendency  Toward  Crowding,  Toward  Apart- 
ment House  Life,  Toward  Houses  on  Our  Back  Yards, 
Attention  to  City  Planning  Needed,  Kinds  of  Housing 

Demanded. 

President  Taft   on   "Back   Yards"— Room  Overcrowding — 

Fourteen  People  in  Four  Rooms — The  Lodger  Evil  Has  Ar- 
rived— Crowding  of  Sleeping  Rooms  a  Serious  Evil — Bohemian 
Flats  Population  Not  Averse  to  Crowding — Light  Housekeeping 
Problem  Serious — Tendency  Should  Be  Opposed — The  Menace 
of  the  Apartment  House — Apartment  Houses  Dangerous— 

6 


HOUSING  PROBLEMS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS 

Housing  Problems  of  New  York  and  Chicago  Impending  Here — 
The  Apartment  House  Craze — Its  Effect — The  Apartment  House 
a  Social  Problem — Also  an  Economic  Problem — Parasitic  Apart- 
ment Houses — Low  Density  Per  Acre — High  Density  Per  House 
— Only  Average  Proportion  of  Dwellings  to  Families — Minne- 
apolis Low  as  a  City  of  Homes — The  Drift  Toward  Tenement 
Life — Rear  Housing  Increasing — Shall  We  Give  Up  Our  Back 
Yards — Alley  Housing  Gripping  the  City — Prophetic  Develop- 
ments on  Shallow  Lots — A  Young  Ghetto —  Attention  to  City 
Planning  Needed — Adapt  Platting  to  Character  of  Neighbor- 
hood— Shortcomings  of  Stereotyped  Building — Modern  City 
Self-Destructive—Kind  of  Housing  Demanded.  Pages  78  to  108. 


FOREWORD 

The  following  report  is  submitted,  not  as  a 
complete  survey  of  all  the  conditions  that  enter 
into  the  providing  of  homes  for  our  citizens 
but  as  a  preliminary  investigation  undertaken 
for  the  purpose  of  finding  out  whether  the  sub- 
ject of  good  housing  should  receive  the  con- 
sideration of  those  interested  in  the  present 
and  future  welfare  of  Minneapolis. 


PREFACE 

A  problem  with  which  we,  like  every  growing  city,  are  sooner 
or  later  brought  face  to  face,  is  that  of  seeing  that  the  men-and 
women  who  toil  in  our  stores  and  in  our  mills,  who  lay  our  sewers, 
pave  our  streets,  and  in  any  way  whatever  contribute  to  the  de- 
velopment of  all  that  makes  Minneapolis  the  great  city  that  it  is 
in  which  to  live  and  do  business,  are  housed  in  such  a  way  as  will 
give  them  and  their  families  homes  in  fact  as  well  as  in  name. 

Minneapolis  has  been  wonderfully  fortunate  thus  far  in  the 
generous  proportions  of  the  home  of  the  laboring  man  as  well 
as  his  employer.  The  following  investigation,  however,  shows 
plainly  that  conditions  have  begun  to  appear  which  seriously 
threaten  the  home  life  of  thousands  whose  welfare  and  happiness 
are  absolutely  essential  to  the  future  progress  of  our  city  viewed 
from  the  industrial,  moral,  and  every  other  standpoint. 

Minneapolis  is  destined  to  grow  and  grow  rapidly.  It  is 
vastly  more  important  to  every  business  man  that  Minneapolis  be 
prepared  to  comfortably  house  and  care  for  a  population  of  1,000,- 
000  twenty-five  years  hence  than  that  the  industries  to  support 
such  a  population  be  secured.  If  we  can  make  our  city  a  place 
where  labor  is  contented  and  happy,  then  the  efficiency  of  labor 
will  be  so  greatly  increased  that  industries  are  bound  to  come  and 
will  be  glad  to  remain. 

The  possibility  of  affording  the  best  type  of  housing  for  all 
her  population  seems  to  be  more  open  to  Minneapolis  than  to  any 
other  city  of  her  size  in  America.  The  accomplishment  of  this  is 
of  such  importance  that  a  strong  Committee  has  been  appointed 
which  I  hope  will  be  able  to  work  out  a  solution  which  shall  bring 
increasing  blessings  to  our  city  in  this  and  succeeding  genera- 
tions. 

DOUGLAS  A.  FISKE, 
Sept.  15,  1914.  President. 


INTRODUCTION 


Nature  and  Purpose  of  the  Survey 


Housing  Problem  the 
Universal  Result  of 
Unguided  City  Growth 


Neither  Minneapolis  nor  any 
in  America  has  yet  learned  the  art  of 
growing,  of  which  fact  the  housing 
problem,  present  in  some  form  or  other 

in  every  large  city  and  in  hundreds  of  the  smaller  ones,  is  one  of 
the  inevitable  results.  Inevitably,  too,  the  burden  of  bad  housing 
falls  most  heavily  upon  the  working  man  and  his  family,  whose 
health,  happiness,  and  general  well-being  are  now  more  than  ever 


No.  1.  In  the  first  "third"  of  this  building  are  6  apartments  of  5 
rooms.  Each  apartment  contributes  3  to  the  total  of  18  dark  rooms  in  the 
building.  For  floor  plan  see  Plate  III,  page  38. 

before  recognized  as  being  essential  to  the  moral,  social,  and  in- 
dustrial welfare  of  the  community.  Quite  properly,  then,  the  ob- 
ject of  this  investigation  has  been  to  determine  as  precisely  as 
possible  the  nature  of  the  housing  problem  which  faces  the  aver- 
age laboring  man's  family  in  Minneapolis.  No  attempt  has  been 
made  to  cover  lodging  houses  or  hotels.  Light  housekeeping 
apartments  have  been  touched  upon  as  they  affect  the  character 
of  housing  in  some  buildings  occupied  in  part  by  the  more  normal 
sort  of  households. 

11 


MINNEAPOLIS  CIVIC  &  COMMERCE  ASSOCIATION 

Apartment  Houses  of  the  The  reason  for  including  facts  relative 
Well-to-do  Some  Day  to  to  new  apartment  houses  inhabited  by 
Be  Tenements  of  the  the  well-to-do  is  found  in  the  fact  that 

Laboring  People.  the  experience  of  all  older  cities  indi- 

cates   that   within   twenty-five   years 

many  of  these  apartments  will  become  the  heritage,  and  the  un- 
wholesome heritage,  of  the  laboring  population. 

Bad  Housing  Is  In    most    cities    there    exist    well    defined 

Widely  Distributed      "slum"  areas  where  examples  may  be  found 

in  Minneapolis.  of  nearly  all  the  varieties  of  bad  housing. 

Minneapolis    does    not   possess    any    such 

area.  Credit  for  this  is  chiefly  due  to  the  general  high  standards 
prevailing  here  and  to  the  able  work  of  our  present  Inspector  of 
Buildings  whose  foresight  has  prevented  many  of  the  housing  ills 
from  which  other  cities  suffer.  There  remain,  however,  many  bad 
conditions,  mostly  in  old,  but  some  in  fairly  new  buildings,  which 
neither  he  nor  the  Commissioner  of  Health  has  power  to  remedy. 
The  31  tenements  and  65  dwelling  houses  covered  by  this  investi- 
gation are  distributed  rather  widely  over  the  city  and  form  nuclei 
from  which  the  full-fledged  slum  is  certain  to  develop  unless 
something  to  prevent  it  is  done.  The  additional  119  dwellings 
covered  for  water  supply,  slop  disposal  and  dilapidation  are  found 
throughout  a  considerable  portion  of  North  Minneapolis. 

The  Investigation       A  period  of  several  months  was  required  to 

Occupied  Several       complete  this  inquiry.     The  methods  used 

Months.  were   the   accredited   methods   of   scientific 

housing    investigation,    involving    housing 

cards,  upon  which  the  information  procured  was  checked  in  accu- 
rate and  uniform  fashion.  Copies  of  these  cards  may  be  found  in 
the  appendix.  All  measurements  were  made  in  feet  and  tenths  of 
feet.  A  preliminary  study  of  the  city  revealed  the  general  location 
of  unsanitary  tenements  and  dwellings.  The  Associated  Charities 
and  other  social  agencies  aided  by  giving  information  concerning 
blocks  of  bad  housing.  Subsequently  the  city  was  divided  into 
two  districts,  the  second  comprising  the  Unity  House  locality, 
bounded  by  Hennepin  Avenue  and  Twentieth  Avenue  North,  and 
Sixth  Street  and  the  river,  the  first  including  all  other  portions  of 
the  city.  Grateful  acknowledgment  is  hereby  made  to  Unity 
House  and  especially  to  Homer  W.  Borst  for  work  done  in  secur- 
ing the  detailed  information  and  preparing  it  for  our  use. 

12 


HOUSING  PROBLEMS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS 


Types  and   Location 
of  Bad  Housing 
Structures. 


Everybody  wonders  in  what  part  of  Min- 
neapolis bad  housing  exists.  The  answer 
is,  in  both  tenement  houses  and  single 
dwellings  scattered  pretty  well  over  the 

entire  city.  The  tenements,  for  the  most  part,  have  exterior  waits 
of  brick  veneer,  are  highly  inflammable,  and  often  in  poor  repair. 
Some  are  built  entirely  of  wood.  Others  have  been  converted  to 
house  several  families  in  the  space  formerly  thought  necessary  for 
the  comfort  of  one.  Some  of  the  wood  and  brick  veneer  tenements 
are  three  stories  or  more  in  height.  This  construction,  in  case  of 
fire,  is  exceedingly  dangerous,  and  was  one  of  the  first  offenses 


No.  2.  Minneapolis  brown  stone  fronts.  In  these  buildings  are  89  in- 
habited basement  rooms;  50  dark  rooms,  22  in  basement  apartments; 
25  rooms  with  no  windows  of  any  sort;  30  damp  sub-basements,  6 
having  unsanitary  toilet  facilities  in  them.  Once  considered  the 
fashionable  place  to  live. 

against  safety  to  be  prohibited  in  this  city.  The  three  story  tene- 
ment must  now  have  solid  brick  walls,  and  all  tenements  more 
than  three  stories  in  height  must  be  fireproof.* 

Dilapidation  The  dwellings  were  almost  without  excep- 

Frequently  Found      tion  in  a  bad  state  of  dilapidation.    Sagging 
floors,  windows  too  warped  to  open,  crum- 
bling foundations,  and  rotting  stairs  abound.    Examples  of  simi- 
lar conditions  in  the  tenements  are  represented  by  the  buildings 

*An  amendment  passed  Sept.   11,  1914,  limits  all  frame  buildings  to 
2y2  stories. 


13 


MINNEAPOLIS  CIVIC  &  COMMERCE  ASSOCIATION 


•as 


* 

. 

03   V 


.11 


l! 


14 


HOUSING  PROBLEMS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS 

in  Illustrations  2  and  3.  These  are  settling  very  badly  on  their 
foundations ;  the  walls  are  cracked  and  many  doors  will  no  longer 
swing.  In  another  row,  the  apartments  open  in  the  rear  upon  a 
flat  roof  formerly  designed  to  be  used  in  lieu  of  a  yard  by  the 
tenants.  Now,  however,  this  roof  has  been  placarded  as  unsafe^ 
and  the  tenents  cannot  step  outside  the  door  and  remain  on  their 
own  premises.  Illustration  4  gives  an  example  of  the  unsightly 
sheds,  unpainted  walls,  sagging  roofs,  and  general  unkempt  ap- 
pearance characteristic  of  hundreds  of  the  houses  occupied  by 
families  of  our  workingmen. 


No.  4.  Housing  over  Northeast.  A  row  of  once  uniformly  con- 
structed but  now  uniformly  dilapidated  laboring  men's  houses,  illus- 
trating tendency  of  row  housing  to  degenerate.  Toilets  are  outside 
vaults,  water  is  procured  from  wells  often  three  or  four  houses  distant. 


Number  of  Stories 
and  Apartments. 


Fortunately,  the  older  Minneapolis  tene- 
ments are  not  high.  Of  the  31  investigated, 
only  one  had  four  stories.  There  were  26 

having  three  stories,  and  4  having  two  stories.  Stores  often  oc- 
cupy the  first  floors.  While  fireproofing  requirements  have  kept 
most  of  the  new  tenements  down  to  three  stories,  a  considerable 
number  of  higher  fireproof  buildings  have  been  erected. 

One  of  the  buildings  investigated  contained  30  families. 
(Illus.  5)  ;  another  contained  28;  two  had  18  families;  two  more 
sheltered  15  families.  The  number  of  apartments  contained  in  all 
the  tenements  examined  is  shown  in  Table  1. 

15 


MINNEAPOLIS  CIVIC  &  COMMERCE  ASSOCIATION 


i 

a 

a 

13 


16 


HOUSING  PROBLEMS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS 


TABLE  1.     HOUSES  BY  NUMBER  OF  APARTMENTS  CONTAINED. 


Number  of  Apartments 

i 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

10 

11 

12 

13 

14 

15 

16 

17 

18 

19 

19 

+ 

Total 

Tenements  
Percentage 

1 
% 

1 
R 

2 
6 

2 
6 

7 
22 

5 

in 

4 
12 

1 
R 

1 
3 

2 
6 

2 
6 

3- 
15 

—ai 

100 

Dwellings  
Percentage  
Total 

;10 
77 
10 

9 

14 
Q 

5 
8 
fi 

1 
1 

9 

9 

9 

7 

5 

/I 

1 

1 

9 

9 

3 

65 

100 
96 

Percentage  

512 

10 

6 

2 

2 

2 

8 

5 

4 

1 

1 

2 

2 

3 

100 

17 


Chapter  I 

RESULTS  OF  INADEQUATE  HOUSING 
REGULATION 

Excessive  Lot  Occupation,  Basement  Habitation,  Dark 
Rooms,  Kitchenette  Problems,  Lack  of  Ventilation,  Inade- 
quate Toilet  Facilities,  Absence  of  Bath  and  Hot  Water. 


pllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllilllllllllllllilllllllllllW 

AN  IDEAL  WORTH  STRIVING  FOR 

==:  EEI: 

"I  picture  in  my  mind  a  city  in  which  trie  child,  yet 
unborn,  will  feel  in  its  being  the  stimulus  of  sunshine 
and  fresh  air;  in  which  the  babe  will  be  born  into  a 
house  fit  to  receive  the  gift  of  heaven;  in  which  the 
child  will  never  know  the  burden  of  the  slum,  but 
through  normal  development  will  come  to  manhood 
ready,  joyfully,  to  do  his  share  in  the  work  of  the 
world  and  qualified  to  assume  a  worthy  citizenship. 

— Chas.  B.  Ball,  Chief  Sanitary  Inspector,  Department  of  Health,  Chicago 

B  § 

mini 


Excessive  Lot  The  question  of  how  great  a  proportion 

Occupation  Prevalent,      of  the  lot  may  properly  be  covered  by  a 

tenement  touches  the  housing  problem 

at  one  of  its  vital  points.  In  greatly  congested  cities  one  finds 
very  little  of  the  area  of  building  lots  preserved  for  the  use  of  the 
tenants  in  yards  and  courts.  Crowded  New  York  permits  90  per 
cent  of  a  corner  lot  and  70  per  cent  of  an  interior  lot  to  be  built 
upon.  In  Chicago,  85  per  cent  of  a  corner  lot  and  75  per  cent  of  an 
interior  lot  may  be  covered.  Other  cities  such  as  St.  Paul,  De- 
troit, Louisville,  Grand  Rapids,  Columbus  and  Duluth  have  con- 
siderably reduced  these  percentages  (See  Table  2)  and  several 
states  have  passed  codes  which  preserve  much  more  of  the  land  for 
the  courts  and  yards  which  are  essential  to  the  proper  lighting  and 

18 


HOUSING  PROBLEMS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS 

ventilating  of  the  buildings,  and  the  health  and  comfort  of  the 
tenants.  The  standard  which  these  more  enlightened  codes  ap- 
proach is  75  per  cent  for  a  corner  lot  and  60  per  cent  for  an  in- 
terior lot.  Without  stopping  to  consider  her  much  less  dense 
population,  Minneapolis  adopted  the  Chicago  standard,  and  thus~ 
allows  a  greater  lot  occupation  than  do  Baltimore,  Columbus,  De- 
troit, Duluth,  Grand  Rapids,  Louisville,  St.  Paul,  Seattle  and  the 
States  of  Indiana,  New  Jersey  and  New  York  (for  cities  of  the 
Second  Class),  and  exceeds  the  percentage  for  interior  lots  of 
even  New  York  City  itself. 


TABLE  2. 

Percentage  of  Lot  which  may  be  Occupied. 


Corner  Lots 


Massachusets  (Town  Law) 
Columbus 

Street  on  3  sides 
Duluth 

Street  on  3  sides 
Detroit 
Louisville 
Seattle,  On  2  streets 

On  2  streets  and  alley 

On  3  streets 

On  4  streets 
Chicago 

Street  on  3  sides 
Grand  Kapids 

Street  on  3  sides 
MINNEAPOLIS 

When  fireproof 
Indiana 

Street  on  3  sides 
New  York  (2nd  Class  Cities) 

Street  on  3  sides 
Baltimore 
Milwaukee 
Pittsburgh 

Street  on  3  sides 
St.  Paul 
California 
Connecticut 
New  Jersey 

New  York  (1st  Class  Cities) 
Pennsylvania 

Street  on  3  sides 
Washington,  D.  C. 

Less  than  75  ft.  deep  and 

not  over  50  ft.  wide         100% 
Providence  95% 


65% 
75% 
80% 
75% 
80% 
80% 
80% 
83% 
85% 
87% 

100% 
85% 
90% 
85% 
90% 
85% 
90% 
85% 
90% 
85% 
90% 
90% 
90% 
90% 

100% 
90% 
90% 
90% 
90% 
90% 
90% 

100% 
90% 


Interior  Lots 

Massachusetts  50% 
Grand  Eapids 

Not  over  60  ft.  in  depth      60% 

60-105  ft.  50% 

105-  40% 

Columbus  60% 

Duluth  60% 

New  York   (2nd  Class  Cities) 

More  than  60  ft.  60% 

Less  than  60  ft.  70% 

Indiana  65% 
New  York  (1st  Class  Cities) 

More  than  105  ft.  65% 

70-105  ft.  70% 

Baltimore  70% 

Detroit  70% 

Louisville  70% 

St.  Paul  70% 

Seattle,  On  1  street  70% 

On  1  street  and  alley          75% 

On  2  streets  77% 

Connecticut 

More  than  60  ft.  70% 

Less  than   60  ft.  75% 

New  Jersey  70% 

Chicago  75% 

Milwaukee  75% 

MINNEAPOLIS  75% 

California  75% 

Washington,  D.  C.  75% 

Pittsburgh  80% 

Providence  80% 

Pennsylvania  80% 


19 


MINNEAPOLIS  CIVIC  &  COMMERCE  ASSOCIATION 


No.  6.     Drying   the  family  wash  in  a  one-room  light  housekeeping 

apartment. 


No.  7.  New  apartment  house  covering  entire  lot.  Our  ordinances 
permit  some  tenements  and  apartment  houses  to  cover  entire  lot  area 
depriving  tenants  of  all  yard  space  whatsoever. 

20 


HOUSING  PROBLEMS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS 

This  investigation,  however,  has  revealed  conditions  even 
worse.  Prior  to  1908  in  this  city  there  was  no  limitation  what- 
ever regulating  this  fundamental  question,  and  consequently  one 
finds  throughout  the  whole  city  example  after  example  of  tene- 
ments upon  corner  lots  that  approach  100  per  cent  of  the  area,  and 
buildings  upon  interior  lots  which  exceed  75  per  cent.  One  out 
of  every  eight  of  the  tenements  investigated  covers  the  entire  area 
of  the  lot  upon  which  it  stands.  In  more  than  one-third,  a  greater 
proportion  than  80  per  cent  is  covered.  More  than  two-thirds,  or 
69  per  cent,  of  the  tenements,  occupy  more  than  64  per  cent  of  the 
ground.  When  the  restrictive  ordinance  was  finally  passed  in 
1908,  it  was  in  this  respect  a  copy  of  the  Chicago  law,  and  thus 
represents  a  standard  set  by  the  second  largest  city  in  America,  a 
city  which  is  so  densely  populated  in  some  districts  that  were  that 
density  continued  throughout  the  city  area,  one-third  of  the  popu- 
lation of  the  Western  Hemisphere  could  be  housed  within  its 
limits,  astounding  as  this  appears. 

May  Still  Cover      The  worst,  however,  has  not  yet  been  stated. 
Entire  Lot.  Under  certain  conditions,  every  square  foot  of 

ground  area  may  still  be  built  over.  For  in- 
stance, if  the  first  story  is  occupied  by  stores,  it  is  not  required 
that  there  be  any  real  yard,  but  only  a  pretext  for  one  upon  the  roof 
over  the  rear  of  the  first  story.  When  there  are  streets  upon  two 
or  more  sides  of  the  lot,  and  there  is  a  certain  proportion  of  front- 
age, 100  per  cent  of  the  lot  may  again  be  built  over.  In  these 
buildings,  one  steps  out  of  his  door  directly  into  street  or  alley,  or 
at  best  upon  a  roof  that  serves  as  a  makeshift  for  a  yard.  Un- 
der these  conditions  the  practices  of  drying  wet  clothes  in  living 
rooms,  and  driving  children  into  the  street  to  play  must  continue 
for  a  long  time  in  our  city.  (Illus.  6  and  7.) 

Yards  Usurped  Again,  if  perchance  a  strip  of  ground  is  left 
by  Stairways.  unbuilt  upon  at  the  rear  of  a  tenement,  four 
feet  of  it  may  be  occupied  by  the  rear  stair- 
ways and  balconies.  Chicago  makes  a  somewhat  similar  provi- 
sion to  cover  fire  escapes.  Minneapolis  allows  long  rear  plat- 
forms and  wooden  stairways  to  suffice  for  fire  escapes  in  tene- 
ment buildings,  subject  to  certain  conditions,  and  then  makes 
applicable  to  them  a  privilege  granted  by  Chicago  to  the  more 
slender  and  less  extensive  construction  characteristic  of  fire  es- 

21 


MINNEAPOLIS  CIVIC  &  COMMERCE  ASSOCIATION 


22 


HOUSING  PROBLEMS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS 

capes.  The  result  is  the  covering  of  the  lot  in  Minneapolis  to  an 
extent  which  is  not  only  more  extreme  than  is  permissible  in 
larger  cities,  but  is  absolutely  unwarranted  upon  the  grounds  of 
hygiene,  sanitation,  or  economic  necessity. 

Two  Kinds  of  In  considering  the  above  facts  about  lot  occupa- 
Congestion  tion,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  there  are  just 

Evident.  two   types    of    congested    population    in    cities, 

namely,  that  due  to  lot  overcrowding,  and  that 
due  to  room  overcrowding.  To  anyone  acquainted  with  the  broad 
areas  of  Minneapolis,  the  idea  of  overcrowding  of  any  sort  seems 
strange.  It  is  perfectly  evident  from  our  investigation,  however, 
that  the  foundations  for  both  lot  overcrowding  and  room  over- 
crowding are  being  securely  and  rapidly  laid.  There  are,  today, 
many  apartment  houses  and  tenements  cut  off  from  proper  light 
and  ventilation  because  of  insufficient  open  spaces.  There  are 
many  more  which,  when  three  and  four  story  buildings  spring  up 
around  them,  will  be  deprived  of  light,  air  and  space,  necessities 
that  have  thus  far  been  afforded  them  because  of  the  unoccupied 
condition  of  the  adjoining  land.  There  is  with  us  a  rapidly  grow- 
ing foreign  population  among  whom  the  evils  of  overcrowding 
already  demand  regulation. 

A  Dismal  Prospect  Furthermore,  in  1912  there  were  construct- 
for  the  Future.  ed  under  the  present  inadequate  regula- 

tions, 1,202  tenement  apartments,  which,  at 

the  rate  of  four  and  one-half  persons  each,  will  accommodate  5,409 
people.  Presuming  the  life  of  these  buildings  to  be  at  least  50 
years,  we  realize  the  possibility  of  affecting  270,450  people  for  one 
year  of  their  lives  by  the  tenements  constructed  in  1912.  As  the 
result  of  the  buildings  erected  in  this  single  year,  if  we  allow  35 
years  to  a  lifetime,  we  have  the  possibility  of  compelling  a  city 
of  7,727  people  to  live  out  their  lives  subject  to  the  ill  effects  of 
too  great  lot  occupation. 

Chicago  Trying  to  Chicago  is  realizing  that  the  percentage  of 
Lower  Percentage  lot  occupation  now  customary  there  is  too 
of  Lot  Covered.  high.  Chas.  B.  Ball,  Chief  Sanitary  In- 

spector,   speaking   before    the    City    Club, 

March  19,  1913,  proposed  a  zone  system  of  lot  percentages  to 
supersede  the  present  Chicago  regulations.  He  favored  preserv- 

23 


MINNEAPOLIS  CIVIC  &  COMMERCE  ASSOCIATION 


w 

I 

16 


' 


Sg 


24 


HOUSING  PROBLEMS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS 

ing  the  present  regulations  only  upon  a  portion  of  the  waterfront 
and  in  the  centre  of  town,  which  districts  were  to  constitute  Zone 
I.  In  Zone  II,  which  was  to  comprise  territory  between  Zone  I 
and  the  outskirts  of  the  city,  the  percentages  were  to  be  decreased 
to  65  and  80,  while  in  the  newer  sections,  Zone  III,  percentages  of 
50  and  70  were  to  obtain.  Whether  or  not  Mr.  Ball's  proposal  is 
sound  in  detail  need  not  be  decided  here.  The  point  seems  well 
taken  by  some  who  oppose  it,  that  if  75  per  cent  of  an  interior  lot 
is  ever  too  great,  it  is  too  great  precisely  where  Chicago  would, 
under  the  proposed  system,  permit  it,  namely,  in  the  already  con- 
gested down-town  districts.  The  policy  suggests  a  concession 
to  expediency.  All  the  more  necessity  is  therefore  laid  upon  a 
city  not  yet  compelled  by  great  economic  pressure  to  make  such 
concessions,  to  adopt  what  is  evidently  Mr.  Ball's  ideal,  namely, 
the  75  and  50  per  cent  regulations.  Surely  it  is  not  too  much  to 
ask  that  Minneapolis  be  concerned  as  Chicago  is  concerned  over 
the  possibilities  of  these  regulations. 

Filthy  Stables  Finally,  Minneapolis  has  no  suitable  regu- 

on   Tenement    Lots,      lation  governing  the  housing  of  animals 

on  tenement  areas.     Illustration  8  shows 

a  dilapidated  stable  on  the  rear  of  the Flat  property.    It  is 

occupied  by  five  horses  and  constitutes  a  reeking  nuisance.  Illus- 
tration 9  is  of  a  group  of  stables  on  the  rear  of  a  tenement  on  Mar- 
shall Avenue  Northeast.  They  house  horses  varying  in  number 
from  three  or  four  upward,  and  a  large  number  of  chickens  besides. 
Columbus,  Duluth,  and  other  cities  have  prohibited  such  occupa- 
tion of  tenement  areas  within  15  feet  of  the  house.  The  same 
regulation  also  applies  to  dwellings.  A  visit  to  a  few  of  many 
back  yards  we  have  seen  in  this  city  would  convince  the  most 
skeptical  of  the  need  for  similar  regulation  here. 

A  POPULATION  BELOW  GROUND 

Families  in  The  ordinance  of  1908  forbids  the  building 

Basement    Homes.        or   fitting   up,   in  apartment   or  tenement 

houses,  of  living  rooms  or  sleeping  rooms, 

the  floors  of  which  are  more  than  two  feet  below  the  grade  of  the 
lot  upon  which  the  building  stands,  except  for  the  use  of  the  jani- 
tor, in  which  case  the  rooms  must  meet  the  requirements  of  ven- 
tilation and  dryness.  So  far  as  is  known  this  law  has  been  uni- 

25 


MINNEAPOLIS  CIVIC  &  COMMERCE  ASSOCIATION 


26 


HOUSING  PROBLEMS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS 

formly  enforced  in  the  new  buildings,  but  the  building  department 
has  not  sufficient  funds  to  enable  it  to  properly  detect  violations 
in  old  ones.  In  one  of  the  tenements  investigated,  a  basement 
apartment  was  fitted  up  during  the  winter  of  1912.  The  apart- 
ment contains  five  rooms,  entrance  hall,  clothes  closet,  and  toilet. 
Three  of  the  rooms  are  toward  the  front  of  the  building,  and  re- 
ceive light  from  five  windows  of  fair  size.  (Illus.  10.)  The  re- 
maining two  rooms  and  the  toilet,  all  situated  in  the  rear,  are- 
dark,  and  are  in  fact  cellar  rooms.  The  toilet  ventilates  into  a  cel- 
lar, or  still  unfinished  portion  of  the  basement.  The  only  ventila- 
tion these  cellar  bed  rooms  have  is  through  a  doorway  into  the 
rooms  in  front.  There  is  no  damp-proofing  in  either  floor  or 
walls.  The  soft  wood  floor  soon  buckled  because  of  the  damp. 
No  janitor  lived  in  this  basement  cellar,  but  a  Polish  family  of 
six,  and  their  eight  lodgers.  Each  of  the  rear  rooms  as  well  as  the 
front  rooms  had  two  double  beds  and  these  were  occupied  double 
shift,  day  and  night,  as  some  of  the  men  worked  nights,  sleeping 
during  the  day.  See  Plate  VI,  page  42,  for  floor  plan. 


City  Has  Hundreds 
of  Basement 
Apartments. 


From  Table  3  (page  27),  it  will  be  seen  that 
136  rooms,  or  9  per  cent  of  the  tenement 
rooms,  are  basement  rooms  more  or  less 
like  the  ones  described  above.  Of  the  265 

tenement  apartments  investigated,  22,  or  9  per  cent,  are  in  base- 
ments.   This  does  not  give  an  adequate  idea  of  the  seriousness  of 

the  situation,  because  21  basement  apartments  in  the Flats, 

and  four  in  another  tenement  row,  are  not  included  in  the  above 
figures,  due  to  the  fact  that  they  were  let  to  light  housekeeping 

TABLE  3.     GENERAL  ROOM  ANALYSIS  BY  DWELLINGS  AND 
TENEMENTS. 


Ventilation 

Windows 

Rooms 

JU 

!a 

Exterior 

c 

« 

c 

c 

•00 

J 

Q 

Possible 

1 

o 
Z 

.2  O 

o  Windo 

o 

•cts 

1 

I! 

pa 

1 

1 

2 

i 

i-S 

z 

(/) 

Obu 

1-1 

Tenements    

1055 

463 

1012 

506 

595 

445 

94 

238 

122 

24 

1382 

136 

1518 

Per  cent 

70 

30 

67 

93 

40 

29 

6 

15 

8 

2 

91 

9 

100 

Dwellings   

364 

12 

271 

105 

191 

160 

20 

2 

376 

376 

Per    cent    

97 

3 

72 

38 

50 

42 

5 

1 

2 

100 

100 

Total 

1419 

475 

1283 

611 

786 

605 

114 

940 

125 

24 

1758 

136 

1894 

Per  cent  

75 

25 

68 

32 

42 

33 

6 

12 

6 

1 

92 

8 

100 

27 


MINNEAPOLIS  CIVIC  &  COMMERCE  ASSOCIATION 

families,  or  let  to  single  roomers,  or  used  in  conjunction  with  up- 
per apartments.  The  fact  is  that  living  in  basements  is  an  inex- 
cusably prevalent  practice  in  Minneapolis. 


Basement    Apartments 
Usually  Dark. 


Plate  I  shows  a  plan  representative  of 
six  basement  apartments  in  a  row  of 
flats  on  Fifth  Street  South,  near  Cedar 

Avenue.  It  illustrates  the  darkness  that  so  often  prevails  in  base- 
ments. One  bedroom  is  entirely  deprived  of  light;  the  kitchen 
and  dining  room  are  only  dimly  lighted  by  one  window  each,  these 


Plate  I.  Floor  plan  of  one  of  a  series  of  basement  apartments 
in  building  shown  in  Illustration  11.  The  dark  room  on  the  right, 
measuring  3x7  feet,  was  used  for  sleeping  purposes. 

28 


HOUSING  PROBLEMS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS 


No.  11.  Flats  with  dark  room  basements.  Two  buildings  contain 
46  dark  rooms,  23  in  basement  apartments.  In  further  building  were 
old-fashioned  long  hopper  closets,  situated  in  basement  and  each 
used  by  three  families. 


No.  12.  Building  has  23  apartments,  each  with  dark  toilet  ventilat- 
ing into  living  room.  Sixteen  apartments  have  from  one  to  four  dark 
rooms.  Six  garbage  chutes,  smeared  their  entire  length  with  filth,  add 
another  unwholesome  feature  to  the  environment. 


29 


MINNEAPOLIS  CIVIC  &  COMMERCE  ASSOCIATION 

opening  upon  a  narrow  rear  court.  There  are  also  two  dark', 
closets,  the  one  on  the  right  serving  to  illustrate  a  principle  which 
must  always  be  borne  in  mind  in  the  study  of  housing,  namely, 
that  bad  housing  is  in  general  occupied  by  just  those  people  who 
can  emphasize  the  unwholesome  features  to  the  highest  possible 
degree.  For  instance,  this  closet,  three  feet  by  seven  in  area,  we 
found  occupied  by  a  laboring  man  as  a  sleeping  room.  When  we 
asked  him  whether  he  did  not  find  his  quarters  pretty  close,  he 
replied,  "Yes,  sometimes  I  do,  especially  when  there  is  company 


No.  13.    Basement  apartments  said  to  flood  during  severe  rains. 


in  the  other  room  and  I  have  to  close  the  door."  This  tenement 
is  the  further  one  in  Illustration  11.  Both  buildings  contain  bad 
basement  apartments.  A  side  view  of  a  tenement  on  Twelfth 
Street  South  shows  windows  opening  into  the  basement  apart- 
ment at  the  end.  (Illus.  12.)  This  particular  end  apartment  has 
but  one  dark  room,  but  beyond  it  are  four  other  basement  apart- 
ments having  three  dark  rooms  each.  While  the  23  apartments 
in  this  building  have  each  a  toilet,  none  of  the  toilets  are  venti- 
lated save  as  they  ventilate  into  the  living  room.  In  addition,  16 
of  these  apartments  have  from  one  to  four  dark  rooms  each. 

30 


HOUSING  PROBLEMS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS 


No.  14.  Combination  toilet  and  bedroom  entirely  dark  located  in 
basement.  Flashlight  photograph.  Bed  blurred  through  nearness  to 
camera. 

31 


MINNEAPOLIS  CIVIC  &  COMMERCE  ASSOCIATION 

Basement    Apartments     Six  apartments  shown  in  Illustration  13, 
Usually  Damp.  on    Eleventh    Street   South,   are   in   the 

basement.  Only  one  out  of  the  six  toi- 
lets is  ventilated,  and  that  insufficiently.  The  tenants  complain 
that  the  wall  paper  does  not  remain  for  any  length  of  time  upon 
the  walls  because  of  dampness.  We  could  find  but  one  tenant 
who  had  remained  in  the  basement  during  more  than  one  spring. 
It  was  her  testimony  that  hard  rains  often  flooded  her  kitchen 
floor,  and  sometimes  the  whole  of  the  apartment.  She  told  of  the 
backing  of  sewage  up  into  her  bath  tub,  and  indicated  how  the 
whole  building  was  settling  through  the  action  of  water.  One 
absolutely  dark  basement  room  in  another  building  was  found  to 
be  serving  the  double  purpose  of  toilet  and  bed  room.  A  picture 
of  it  is  shown  in  Illustration  14,  the  bed  being  so  near  the  camera 
that  it  is  blurred.  Equally  disgusting  is  the  practice  of  locating 
toilets  in  dark,  damp,  sub-basements,  situated  beneath  basement 
apartments.  Six  of  these  were  found  in  one  row  of  buildings.  A 
sickening  odor,  aggravated  by  the  perpetual  dampness,  fairly 
stops  your  nostrils  as  you  enter.  In  one  such  sub-basement  a 
woman  wintered  her  chickens  among  piles  of  debris  and  filth.  In 
some  of  them,  ancient  open  cisterns  contribute  their  quota  of 
dampness  and  mustiness  to  the  apartments  above. 


No.  15.    New  apartments  below  level  of  sidewalk,  but  not  below  level 
of  lot,  permitted  by  present  ordinance. 

32 


HOUSING  PROBLEMS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS 


Basement  Occupation  It  seems  only  reasonable  to  suppose  that 
Should  Be  Regulated  if  it  is  an  offense  against  good  housing 
If  Not  Prohibited.  practice  to  allow  the  construction  of 

basement    apartments    with    all    of    the 

modern  precautions  to  insure  ventilation  and  dryness,  it  would 
be  only  proper  to  prohibit  such  places  as  are  here  described  frorrr 
being  lived  in  at  all.  Minneapolis  has  no  regulations  applicable 
to  basements  constructed  and  arranged  prior  to  1908,  and  these, 
as  has  been  shown,  are  precisely  the  ones  which  most  need  regu- 
lation. Even  New  York  City  and  Chicago  require  that  when 
basement  rooms  are  occupied  for  living  purposes,  they  shall  be 
nine  feet  high,  with  damp-proof  floors  and  walls,  having  ceilings 
four  feet  six  inches  above  the  adjoining  ground,  and  the  windows 

must  be  equal  to  one-eighth 
of  the  floor  area.  Other  cit- 
ies have  even  more  strin- 
gent regulations;  in  some, 
construction  of  new  base- 
ment apartments  is  pro- 
hibited entirely.  It  is  in- 
excusable that  anyone  in 
Minneapolis  should  be  per- 
mitted to  construct  base- 
ment apartments  in  a  new 
building  such  as  those  in  the 
further  building  shown  in 
Illustration  15.  Although 
some  one  may  protest  that 
these  apartments  are  all 
right,  the  fact  remains  that 
they  are  precisely  the  type 
of  basement  rooms  which 
flourishes  in  Gault  Court, 
Chicago,  otherwise  known  as 
Little  Sicily,  or  Little  Hell, 
perhaps  the  worst  housing 
in  Chicago,  and  by  some  de- 
clared to  be  as  bad  as  any 
in  the  world.  Illustration 
16  shows  a  serious  example 
of  this  sort  of  basement  in 
Minneapolis. 


No.  16.  Unwholesome  type  of 
apartment  below  street  level,  permit- 
ted under  present  ordinance. 

33 


MINNEAPOLIS  CIVIC  &  COMMERCE  ASSOCIATION 


No.  17.     Windowless  wall.     Apartments  lighted  only  by  windows  in 
front  and  rear.    Buildings  contain  25  dark  rooms. 


No.  18. 


A  tenement  in  the  Slavic  section.     Ten  dark  bedrooms  illus- 
trate evils  of  alcove. 


34 


HOUSING  PROBLEMS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS 

Janitor's   Quarters      Minneapolis  allows  one  basement  apartment 

in  Basements.  to  be  constructed  in  new  buildings  for  the 

use  of  the  janitor.    The  logic  of  permitting 

the  janitor  to  occupy  apartments  which  are  forbidden  to  others 
because  of  their  deleterious  effect  is  not  clear.  Janitors,  so  far 
as  is  generally  known,  are  neither  peculiarly  worthless  members 
of  society,  nor  exceptionally  proof  against  the  ills  of  the  flesh. 
But  further  still,  it  is  a  known  fact  that  the  clause  allowing  a  base- 
ment apartment  to  be  constructed  for  a  janitor  permits  of  such 
apartments  being  occupied  by  other  tenants.  A  possible  case  in 
point  is  found  on  Lyndale  Avenue,  where  a  group  of  four  flat 
buildings  have  recently  been  erected.  It  is  possible  for  one  jani- 
tor, occupying  one  basement  apartment  in  one  building,  to  care 
for  all,  and  this  may  easily  be  the  arrangement.  This  will  permit 
of  the  basement  apartments  in  the  other  three  buildings  being 
rented  out.  Again,  in  the  case  of  four-flat  houses,  plans  are  con- 
stantly submitted  providing  for  a  janitor's  flat  in  the  basement. 
Such  provision  is  so  superfluous  in  the  case  of  most  four-flat 
houses  that  it  immediately  suggests  to  everyone  that  the  builder 
intends  to  accommodate,  not  a  janitor,  but  a  pay  tenant.  The 
course  taken  by  the  newer  codes  in  absolutely  prohibiting  the 
occupancy  of  basements  in  new  buildings  is  not  without  reason, 
and  in  such  a  policy  lies  the  only  safe  method  of  dealing  with  this 
particular  phase  of  the  housing  problem. 


A  POPULATION  IN  DARKNESS 

A  Thousand  Dark      The  people  of  Minneapolis  will  be  astounded 

Tenement   Rooms      to  learn  that  the  tenements  already  existing 

in  Minneapolis.  in  Minneapolis  have  within  them  more  than 

a  thousand  dark  rooms, — rooms  without  an 

outside  window,  rooms  without  ventilation,  rooms  into  which  the 
light  of  the  sun  never  enters,  some  of  them  veritable  dungeons 
where  one  must  strike  a  light  before  he  can  tell  whether  the  room 
is  occupied  or  empty.  Some  of  these  rooms  are  partially  lit  by 
light  borrowed  from  an  adjoining  room,  but  none  of  the  rooms 
rated  as  dark  in  this  report  had  outside  windows  admitting  suffi- 
cient light  to  enable  a  newspaper  to  be  read  in  the  middle  of  the 
day  in  at  least  three-quarters  of  the  room.  Let  us  look  for  a  mo- 

35 


MINNEAPOLIS  CIVIC  &  COMMERCE  ASSOCIATION 

ment  at  the  type  of  buildings  in  which  these  dark  rooms  are  situ- 
ated. Illustration  17  shows  two  tenements  on  Central  Avenue, 
which  contain  together  25  dark  rooms.  As  you  see,  the  side  wall 
is  on  the  lot  line,  and  contains  no  windows  whatever.  Illustra- 
tion 18  shows  a  flat  on  Marshall  Avenue  Northeast,  containing  10 
dark  rooms,  most  of  which  are  alcove  bedrooms. 

Dark  Rooms  Illustrations  19  and  20  show  how  dark  rooms 

in  the  Making,  are  made.  They  are  examples  of  a  sort  of 
building  of  which  we  have  many  in  the  city. 
Owing  to  the  fact  that  the  windows  are  situated  in  a  wall  which 
is  built  upon  the  lot  line,  as  soon  as  the  adjoining  lot  is  built  upon, 
dark  rooms  equal  in  number  to  the  windows  will  be  added  to  the 
thousand  and  more  already  existing. 


No.  19.  How  dark  rooms  are  often  made.  Rooms  lighted  by  win- 
dows in  lot  line  wall  become  dark  rooms  when  adjoining  property  is 
developed.  Process  complete  on  one  side. 

Dark  Rooms  in      Dark  rooms  are  not  found  alone  in  tenements. 
Dwellings.  Even  single  dwellings  contain  them,  most  often 

in  the  form  of  the  alcove,  or  against  a  wall  cut 
off  from  light  by  other  construction.  Out  of  1,894  rooms  inspect- 
ed, 475,  or  25  per  cent,  were  dark.  (Table  3.)  Considering  the 
tenements  only,  30  per  cent  were  dark.  In  one  district,  out  of 
288  rooms  used  for  sleeping  purposes,  32  per  cent  were  dark.  In 

36 


HOUSING  PROBLEMS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS 


No.  20.     Sure  source  of  windowless  rooms.     New  building  on  ad- 
joining lot  can  cut  off  all  direct  light  from  nine  rooms. 

37 


MINNEAPOLIS  CIVIC  &  COMMERCE  ASSOCIATION 


Plate  II.  Six  rooms, 
one  behind  the  other; 
outside  windows  only  in 
front  and  rear.  Note  loca- 
tion of  bathroom  and 
toilet. 


Plate  III.  Three  out 
of  five  rooms  dark.  Not 
even  "through"  ventila- 
tion possible.  Floor  plan 
of  part  of  building  shown 
in  Illustration  1. 


38 


HOUSING  PROBLEMS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS 


another  district,  3  per  cent  of  the  sleeping  rooms  in  dwelling 
houses  were  dark. 

Many  Dark  Many  of  these  dark  rooms  are  basement  rooms,  as 
Rooms  in  will  be  recalled  by  referring  to  Plates  I,  VI,  VII 
Basements.  and  VIII  (pages  28,  82,  85  and  91).  Plate  II  is  a 
plan  of  a  six-room  apartment  with  all  the  rooms 
arranged  one  behind  another.  Only  the  front  and  rear  rooms 
have  outside  windows.  Between  these  are  four  rooms  entirely 
deprived  of  light  except  as  it  filters  through  other  rooms.  At 
Fourth  Avenue  South,  a  similar  situation  exists  and  in  addi- 
tion, the  toilet,  instead  of  ventilating  into  the  hall,  as  in  the  above 

case,  ventilates  into  the  din- 
ing room.  The  cubby  hole 
in  which  the  toilet  is  located 
was  originally  a  linen  closet. 
The  building  shown  in  Il- 
lustration 1  contains  in  its 
first  section  six  apartments 
of  five  rooms  each.  Three 
rooms  in  every  apartment 
are  windowless,  making  a 
total  of  eighteen  dark  rooms 
divided  among  six  fami- 
lies. Not  even  through  ven- 
tilation is  here  possible, 
as  is  easily  seen  from  Plate 
III.  Other  rooms  are  dark 
because  they  open  upon 
courts  which  are  merely 
narrow  slits  between  build- 
ings. One  of  these  is  shown 
in  Illustration  21.  Upon  it 
10  rooms  depend  for  light 
and  air.  The  same  objection 
holds  against  allowing  dwell- 
ings to  be  built  with  too 
narrow  a  passageway  along 
the  lot  line. 


No.  21.  Ten  rooms  depend  entirely 
upon  this  lot  line  court,  three  feet, 
eight  inches  wide,  for  light  and  air. 
Present  ordinance  permits  such  court 
to  be  only  four  feet  wide  for  a  four- 
story  building. 

39 


MINNEAPOLIS  CIVIC  &  COMMERCE  ASSOCIATION 


No.  22.     Windowless  bedroom.     Type  of  dark  room  made  legal  by 
latest  amendment  to  building  ordinance. 

40 


HOUSING  PROBLEMS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS 

Dark  Rooms  as  Dark  rooms  are  nearly  always  sleeping 
Sleeping  Rooms.  rooms.  A  considerable  number  are  used  as 

kitchens.    In  one  of  the  dark  kitchens  of 

Fourth  Street  South,  a  mother  said  she  knew  her  eyesight  had 
been  impaired  through  working  constantly  by  gas  light.  In  some 
apartments  the  living  room,  as  well  as  bedroom  or  kitchen,  is  dark, 
and  here  children  play  by  day  in  darkness,  and  at  night  creep 
into  beds  never  freshened  by  sunlight.  Illustration  22  is  a  flash- 
light picture  of  a  dark  bedroom  on  North  Washington  Avenue. 

Amendment  Passed  In  the  amendment  of  April  11,  1913,  there  is 
Inadequate.  a  retroactive  measure  intended  to  some- 

what open  up  dark  rooms  used,  or  designed 

to  be  used,  as  sleeping  rooms  in  structures  already  built.  The 
demand  is  made  for  windows  in  outside  walls  where  such  are 
possible,  or,  failing  that,  the  installation  of  a  vent  shaft  at  least 
nine  square  feet  in  area.  In  sleeping  rooms  already  constructed 
and  provided  with  ventilating  skylights,  or  opening  into  a  lighted 
room  by  means  of  an  aperture  at  least  30  square  feet  in  area,  or 
situated  upon  a  vent  shaft  of  the  size  required,  no  change  need  be 
made.  So  far  as  it  goes,  this  is  a  step  in  the  right  direction.  The 
provision  should  be  extended  to  apply  to  other  living  rooms,  as 
experience  has  shown  that  any  living  room  may  be  converted  at 
any  time  into  a  sleeping  apartment. 

Shame  of  Dark  Rooms  So  much  for  the  older  structures.  The 
in  New  Structures.  great  pity  is  that  in  spite  of  the  provi- 

sion in  the  ordinance  of  1908,  revised, 

that  "every  habitable  room  shall  have  a  window  or  windows  with 
a  total  glass  area  equal  to  at  least  one-tenth  of  its  floor  area,  and 
opening  onto  a  street,  alley,  yard  or  court"  (p.  130),  the  building 
of  tenements  with  what  are  practically  dark  rooms  has  not  ceased. 
Plate  IV  illustrates  the  point  well.  This  represents  half  of  a  floor 

plan  found  in  two  new  flat  buildings  at  the  corner  of and 

Lyndale  Avenues  South.  As  will  be  seen,  the  dining  room  has  no 
light  except  that  borrowed  from  the  front  room  through  a  six-foot 
passageway.  Such  openings  between  rooms  are  very  common  in 
Minneapolis  houses  and  afford  scant  excuse  for  considering  the 
dining  room  as  part  of  the  front  room.  The  kitchen  has  no  light 
except  from  a  vent  shaft  constructed  three  feet  smaller  than  the 

41 


MINNEAPOLIS  CIVIC  &  COMMERCE  ASSOCIATION 


Plate  IV.  Section  of  floor  plan  in  a  new  apartment  house  (1912). 
Dining  room  has  "borrowed"  light  only.  Kitchen  has  opening  to  a 
vent  shaft  several  feet  under  legal  size  and  with  an  odoriferous  gar- 
bage chute  in  it. 


42 


HOUSING  PROBLEMS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS 

ordinance  requires.  In  the  vent  shaft  has  been  placed  a  garbage 
chute,  and  the  odor  effectively  prevents  what  window  there  is 
from  being  used  to  ventilate  the  kitchen.  In  the  two  structures 
built  according  to  this  plan  and  containing  18  apartments,  there 
are  in  reality  36  dark  rooms  and  4  inadequate  and  illegal  vent 
shafts.  The  plan  which  the  Building  Inspector  showed  as  having 
been  submitted  to  him  for  these  apartments  was  decidedly  differ- 
ent than  the  one  followed  out  in  construction.  The  existence  of 
these  conditions  today  at  once  raises  the  question  of  higher  stand- 
ards, more  frequent  inspection,  and  better  machinery  for  enforce- 
ment of  existing  laws. 

Dark  Rooms  Since  the  erection  of  this  building,  an  amendment 
Legalized.  to  the  ordinance  has  been  passed  (April  11,  1913), 

which  legalizes  the  practice  of  putting  all  of  the 
windows  for  two  rooms  in  one  of  them  when  there  is  provided  an 
open  doorway  or  space  between  of  at  least  30  square  feet  in  area. 
This  is  equivalent  to  a  door  four  feet  by  seven  and  one-half.  The 
window  space  in  the  lighted  room  must  not  be  less  than  one- 
eighth  of  the  combined  areas  of  both  rooms.  Good  housing  prac- 
tice, we  are  sure,  will  discredit  this  law.  More  and  more  housing 
laws  are  providing  for  the  same  lighting  and  ventilation  for  al- 
coves as  for  other  rooms. 

THE  KITCHENETTE  PROBLEM 

Kitchenettes  Are  The  new  amendment  also  provides  that  a 
Ill-ventilated.  kitchenette  less  than  36  feet  in  area  may  be  lo- 

cated on  a  vent  shaft.  This  means  in  many 
instances  a  dark  kitchenette.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  kitchens  in 
the  flats  represented  by  Plate  IV,  were,  not  allowing  for  the  space 
occupied  by  the  vent  shaft  and  the  cut  off  corner,  nearly  100  feet 
in  area.  The  important  consideration  is  not,  of  course,  this  one 
violation  of  the  law,  but  the  fact  that  henceforth  plans  very  simi- 
lar, with  an  enlarged  vent  shaft  and  smaller  kitchen,  will  not  be 
violations  of  the  law. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  the  advent  of  the  kitchenette  has 
introduced  a  vexed  question.  The  range  for  diminutive  cooking 
quarters  has  resulted  in  many  unwholesome  developments,  some 
of  which  have  disgraced  what  have  been  considered  first-class 

apartments.    For  instance,  the Apartments,  on  Henne- 

43 


MINNEAPOLIS  CIVIC  &  COMMERCE  ASSOCIATION 

pin  Avenue,  has  installed  over  20  kitchenettes  which  are  located 
in  the  same  compartment  with  the  bath  and  toilet,  and  separated 
from  them  by  a  dwarf  partition  only.  The  kitchenettes  are  next 
to  the  ventilating  window,  so  that  the  odor  from  the  bath  room 
has  to  pass  through  the  cooking  apartment  on  its  way  to  the  outer 
air.  As  the  above  installation  is  an  "alteration  in  an  existing 
building,"  there  seems  to  be  no  provision  in  the  law  by  which  it 
can  be  prevented. 


No.  23.     Bathroom  and  kitchenette  located  in  the  same  compartment 

is  a  "feature"  of  this  apartment  house.     The  bathroom  ventilates 

over  a  dwarf  partition  and  out  through 

the  kitchenette. 


Unsanitary  Even  with  the  best  of  tenants,  the  arrange- 

Possibilities  ment  has  an  unsavory  aspect,  but  one  needs  a 

of  Kitchenettes.  vivid  imagination  to  be  able  to  fully  realize 
the  state  of  such  a  combination  kitchen  and 
bath  room  were  the  apartment  occupied  by  the  class  of  tenants 
that  will  some  day  surely  inhabit  the  tenements  which  are  now 
so  glad  to  be  called  "select."  Centers  shift,  populations  change, 
and  the  center  of  our  city  is  moving  out  toward  the  prosperous 
districts  which  have  lately  been  so  active  in  constructing  tene- 
ments. The  extremes  of  society  are  strangely  alike;  it  is  at 
once  highly  fashionable  and  highly  otherwise  to  live  in  a  multi- 
ple house.  Moreover,  the  most  fashionable  apartments  may 

44 


HOUSING  PROBLEMS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS 

have  within  them  the  possibility  of  becoming  the  most  degrading 
and  unsanitary  tenements,  when  they  are  finally  occupied,  as  they 
inevitably  will  be  in  the  course  of  time  and  change,  by  another 
class  of  tenants.  No  one  can  doubt,  for  instance,  when  he  views 

the  massive  oak  finishing  in  the Flats,  that  they  were  once 

the  most  fashionable  place  to  live.  Now  they  are  the  least  fash- 
ionable. The  history  of  housing  in  every  other  city  tells  us  plainly 
that  the  same  fate  is  certain  to  come  to  our  present  fashionable 
apartments. 

What  a  Southern  European  population  would  make  of  the 
above  combination  kitchenette  and  toilet  is  beyond  description. 
The  evils  arising  from  overcrowded  dark  rooms  would  be  corre- 
spondingly aggravated.  "No  housing  evils  are  necessary  and 
wherever  they  are  tolerated  they  are  a  reflection  upon  the  intelli- 
gence, right  mindedness,  and  moral  tone,  of  the  community."* 
Dark  rooms  are  not  a  necessity.  The  prohibition  of  darkness  in 
the  apartment  houses  of  West  Minneapolis  would  not  work  eco- 
nomic hardship.  In  general,  these  buildings  are  now  for  the  well- 
to-do,  although  the  poor  will  one  day  inherit  them  with  all  of  the 
foolish,  short-sighted  blunders  built  into  their  structure.  The 
protection  of  the  poor,  in  this  case,  means  demanding  decency 
for  the  rich. 


A  POPULATION  WITHOUT  SUFFICIENT  AIR 

Lack  of  Ventilation  Thousands  of  fathers,  mothers,  and  chil- 
Prevalent.  dren  go  to  sleep  every  night  in  Minneap- 

olis in  rooms  which  are  not  ventilated,  not 

because  these  people  choose  foul  air  and  germs,  voluntarily,  but 
because  the  proper  circulation  of  air  in  these  rooms  was  once  and 
forever  forestalled  when  the  building  was  constructed.  Thirty- 
three  per  cent  of  the  tenement  rooms  are  not  ventilated,  and  25 
per  cent  of  them  have  no  windows  to  the  outside.  In  the  dwell- 
ings, we  find  38  per  cent  of  the  rooms  not  ventilated  and  3  per 
cent  with  no  windows  to  the  outside.  There  are  114  un ventilated 
bedrooms  in  district  one,  out  of  a  total  of  288 ;  this  is  36  per  cent. 


*"Housing  Reform,"  by  Lawrence  Veiller. 

45 


MINNEAPOLIS  CIVIC  &  COMMERCE  ASSOCIATION 

(See  Table  4.)  Similarly,  28  per  cent  have  no  outside  window. 
In  district  two,  30  per  cent  of  the  tenement  bedrooms  are  not  ven- 
tilated, 29  per  cent  having  no  outside  window.  Room  after  room 
can  be  found  in  which  ventilation  is  impossible  even  when  win- 
dows are  present,  because  the  windows  have  immovable  sash  or 
are  fitted  in  winter  with  storm  windows  which  can  neither  be 
opened  in  whole  nor  in  part. 


TABLE  4.     SLEEPING  BOOMS  BY  LIGHT  AND  VENTILATION. 


With 

Without 

Light 

Dark 

Venti- 
lated 

Venti- 

Exterior 
Win- 

Exterior 
Win- 

Total 

dows 

dows 

Tenements  

315 

131 

286 

160 

319 

127 

446 

Per  Cent  

70 

30 

64 

36 

72 

28 

100 

Dwellings 

179 

5 

150 

34 

180 

4 

184 

Per  Cent  

97 

3 

81 

19 

98 

2 

100 

Total 

494 

136 

436 

194 

499 

131 

630 

Per  cent  ... 

79 

21 

69 

31 

79 

21 

100 

Impressive    Example      To  obtain  a  definite  idea  of  what  such  con- 

of  Non- ventilation.         ditions  mean,  imagine  an  attic  room  12x19 

feet,  and  in  half  of  the  area  less  than  7  feet 

high,  lit  by  one  immovable  pane  of  glass  set  solidly  in  a  door 
opening  upon  the  rear  platform.  The  only  means  of  ventilation, 
then,  is  by  opening  the  door.  In  this  one  room  at  the  time  of  our 
last  visit  lived  a  family  of  three,  father  (American),  mother  (Ger- 
man), and  a  child  of  three.  The  father  was  suffering  from  ad- 
vanced tuberculosis.  Under  the  conditions,  too  crowded  to  be 
permitted  even  had  the  room  been  capable  of  ventilation,  the  in- 
fection of  the  mother  and  child  could  be  averted  only  by  a  miracle, 
and  miracles  of  the  sort  required  are  not  numerous,  as  the  records 
of  tenements  will  show. 


The  Window  Which 
Cannot  Be  Opened. 


In  dwellings,  neglect  of  this  kind  in  win- 
ter is  even  more  prevalent.  The  entire  42 
per  cent  of  such  unventilated  bedrooms  in 

district  one,  and  similarly  the  11  per  cent  in  district  two,  is  due 
to  the  fact  that  windows  cannot  be  opened  to  admit  air.  In  some 
cases  this  is  due  to  the  ignorance  or  carelessness  of  the  tenant, 
but  more  often  it  is  the  fault  of  the  landlord  who  fails  to  fit  win- 
dows with  movable  sash,  and  nail  storm  windows  tight  on,  with 

46 


HOUSING  PROBLEMS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS 

neither  hinges  by  which  they  may  be  swung  open,  nor  slides  in 
the  frames  which  may  be  opened  to  allow  the  entrance  of  fresh 
air.  This  may  seem  a  minor  point,  but  it  means  more  colds,  more 
pneumonia,  and  more  tuberculosis  to  the  people  who  must  occupy 
these  rooms.  We  need  legislation  to  compel  storm  windows  to  be 
so  hung  that  they  can  be  opened  at  the  will  of  the  tenants. 


Ill-ventilation  In  the  main, 
Due  to  Nar-  however, 

row  Courts,  lack   of  ven- 

Inadequate  tilationis 

Vent  found     in 

Shafts,  and  rooms  which 

Absence  of  have  no  win- 

Windows,  d  o  w  s ,     or 

only  win- 

dows  which  open  upon  a  nar- 
row, slit-like  court,  or  upon  a 
slender,  fume  and  odor  choked 
vent  shaft.  In  this  investiga- 
tion, rooms  have  been  called 
unventilated  when  they  had  no 
windows  to  a  street,  alley,  yard 
or  court,  or  vent  shaft,  and  also 
when  they  were  upon  a  shaft 
which  had  no  provision  for  ven- 
tilating at  the  top.  All  of  these 
rooms  were  either  closed  off 
from  other  rooms,  or  might  so 
be  closed  off  by  means  of  doors 
or  curtains. 


Plate  5.  Dark,  unventilated 
rooms  and  toilets  in  buildings 
shown  in  Illustration  17. 


47 


MINNEAPOLIS  CIVIC  &  COMMERCE  ASSOCIATION 

Present  Ordinance  An  amendment  of  April   llth,   1913,  is 

Inadequate.  concerned  with  the  ventilation  of  sleeping 

rooms,   but   it   does   not   extend   to   living 

rooms,  which  at  any  time  may  be  used  as  bedrooms.  The  vent 
shaft  is  still  permitted.  It  is  legal  to  have  a  bath  room,  water 
closet,  and  finally,  by  the  latest  amendment,  a  kitchenette,  if  less 
than  36  feet  in  area,  ventilated  only  by  means  of  a  vent  shaft. 
Such  means  of  ventilation  have  long  been  in  wide  disfavor.  The 
huge  examples,  characteristic  of  New  York's  dumb-bell  tene- 
ments, have  been  declared  to  be  "gigantic  culture  tubes  of  tuber- 
culosis." A  tenement  full  of  vent  shafts,  when  occupied  by  a 
group  of  Southern  Europeans,  and  let  by  a  careless  landlord,  is 
certain  to  become  a  serious  menace  to  the  community.  At  the 
bottom,  the  vent  shaft  is  often  used  as  a  catch-all  for  old  furni- 
ture, mattresses,  soiled  clothes,  and  other  such  commodities  from 
neighboring  apartments,  and  nothing  could  be  more  suggestive 
of  a  fire  carefully  laid  at  the  foot  of  a  tall  chimney,  than  just  this 
condition.  The  vent  shafts  in  the  flat  at  the  corner  of  Marshall 

Avenue   and  Street   Northeast   were    thus   encumbered. 

A  builder  in  criticizing  a  newly  erected  apartment  house  ex- 
pressed what  he  considered  to  be  sufficient  opprobrium  in  these 
words,  "They  have  stuck  it  full  of  vent  shafts." 

Narrow  Courts  Cut      In  respect  to  courts,  another  important  fac- 

Off  Ventilation.  tor  in  ventilation,  it  may  be  frankly  stated 

that    Minneapolis    is    not    abreast    of    the 

times.  Her  requirements  are  an  exact  duplication  of  Chicago 
requirements,  but  Chicago  is  realizing  that  a  four-foot  court  at 
the  side  of  a  four-story  building  is  altogether  inadequate.  The 
Chief  Sanitary  Inspector  has  recommended  that  the  standard 
be  raised.  One  important  objection  to  these  narrow  courts  is  the 
fact  that  privacy  is  impossible  when  one's  windows  look  across 
only  a  four-foot  space  into  the  windows  of  a  neighboring  apart- 
ment. (Illus.  21,  page  39.)  Even  more  important  is  the  objec- 
tion based  on  the  lack  of  light  and  air. 

Narrow   Courts      The  narrow  court,  like  the  vent  shaft,  becomes 
Gather  Filth.          a  catch-all  for  filth.     How  can  such  a  court  as 
is  shown  in  Illustration  24  furnish  anything 
except  foul  air  through  the  adjoining  windows? 

48 


HOUSING  PROBLEMS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS 


49 


MINNEAPOLIS  CIVIC  &  COMMERCE  ASSOCIATION 

A  POPULATION  WITHOUT  THE  COMMON 
DECENCIES 

Shameful  Lack  of      Minneapolis  was  startled  last  year  by  being 

Toilet  Facilities.          shown  a  map  of  the  city  which  indicated 

that  there  were  approximately  17,000  vaults 

and  cesspools  within  the  city  limits.  In  the  city  of  Minneapolis 
today  a  man  may  erect  a  building  to  accommodate  as  many 
families  as  he  pleases  and  put  in  as  few  toilets  as  he  wishes,  or 
none  at  all  if  it  suits  him  to  do  so. 

Excessive  Number  As  a  result  of  this  lack  of  provision  we  find 
of  Families  as  many  as  ten  families  are  obliged  to  fre- 

Per  Closet.  quent    one    privy    vault.     Thirty-eight    per 

cent  of  all  the  families  visited  are  frequent- 
ing toilets  in  the  ratio  of  three  families  or  more  to  a  closet. 
(Table  5.)  Those  compelled  to  share  their  water-closet  with 
one  or  more  other  families  represent  63%.  A  tenement  located 
on  Plymouth  Avenue  (Illus.  25),  in  which  there  are  apartments 
en  the  two  upper  floors,  had  two  public  toilets,  one  of  which  was 
constantly  frequented  by  seven  families,  and  the  other  by  four, 
although  additional  families  had  access  to  them  at  will.  In  each 
of  these  toilets  there  were  two  closets,  separated  by  dwarf  parti- 
tions, and  used  indiscriminately  by  the  male  and  female  members 
of  the  families  at  the  same,  or  different  times.  Such  arrange- 
ments are  not  only  unsanitary,  but  they  are  indecent,  if  not  actu- 
ally immoral. 


TABLE  5.     APARTMENTS  BY  CLOSETS,  SHARED  WITH  OTHER 

FAMILIES. 

No.  of  Families  |       Ij       2\       3|       4| 5J       6|       7| 8| 9|10+|Totf. 


Tenements  
Per  Cent  
Dwellings  
Per  Cent  
Total    
Per    cent    .. 

110 
41 
36 
41 
146 
41 

59 
22 
14 
16 
73 

39 
15 
20 
24 
59 
17 

39 
15 
2 

2 
41 
12 

5 
2 

5 
1 

8 
3 

8 

4 
2 
7 
8 
11 
3 

1 

1 
1 

8 
9 

8 

?, 

265 
100 
87 
100 
352 
100 

50 


HOUSING  PROBLEMS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS 


No.  25.  Interior  court  in  tenement  where  two  toilets,  separated  by 
a  dwarf  partition  and  located  in  a  common  compartment  served 
seven  families. 

51 


MINNEAPOLIS  CIVIC  &  COMMERCE  ASSOCIATION 

Contamination  As  has  been  repeatedly  stated  in  this  chapter, 
From  Closets.  one  of  the  strongest  counts  against  the  common 
use  of  toilets  by  two  or  more  families  is  the 
danger  of  spreading  communicable  disease.  In  one  instance 
where  the  dwellers  in  three  apartments,  including  four  families 
and  a  number  of  roomers,  used  one  toilet  in  common,  one  of  the 
roomers  confessed  with  little  reluctance,  if  not  with  a  certain 
species  of  pride,  to  being  afflicted  with  a  venereal  disease  which 
might  be  communicated  through  contact  with  the  closet  seat.  A 
picture  of  the  filthy  toilet  is  shown  in  Illustration  26,  the  meager, 
antiquated  fixtures  being  hidden  behind  the  door.  The  picture 
of  a  little  girl,  shown  in  Illustration  6,  page  20,  who  was  obliged 
to  frequent  the  filthy  place,  makes  the  hideousness  of  such  an  ar- 
rangement to  some  degree  realizable. 

Evils  of  Diffused  The  second  count  against  the  common  use  of 
Responsibility.  toilet  facilities  is  the  almost  inevitably  result- 
ing condition  of  filth.  Even  where  only  two 
families  share  a  closet,  the  divided  responsibility  results  in  neg- 
lect. For  example,  in  an  actual  case  of  a  basement  toilet  shared 
between  the  family  on  the  first  floor  and  the  family  in  the  base- 
ment, the  closet  had  overflowed.  Scraps  of  toilet  paper  and  filth 
were  left  sticking  to  the  floor  several  days  later.  When  asked 
why  she  did  not  clean  up,  the  woman  who  occupied  the  basement 
said  she  was  "waiting  for  the  family  upstairs  to  do  it."  Bad  as 
conditions  are  when  two  families  are  obliged  to  make  use  of  the 
same  closet,  they  are  vastly  worse  when,  as  in  the  tenement  at 

Riverside  Avenue,  fourteen  families  have  access  to  but 

two  toilets  and  one  urinal  compartment.  These  are  small,  un- 
ventilated  cells,  one  entirely  dark,  two  dimly  lit  by  a  smoky 
kerosene  lantern  hung  in  the  partition  between  them.  The 
stench  is  sickening,  and  the  floor  and  closets  cannot  even  be 
properly  cleaned,  not  to  say  properly  maintained.  (Illus.  27.) 

Alarming  Lack  In  one  district,  41%  of  the  tenement  closets 
of  Sanitation.  were  dirty,  and  9%  were  very  dirty.  In  an- 
other, 28%  were  scored  dirty  and  very  dirty. 
The  dwellings  had  65%  in  one  district  dirty  and  15%  in  another. 
The  dwellings  had  82%  of  their  toilets  in  the  yard,  which  almost 
invariably  means  a  filthy  vault.  (Illus.  28,  29,  and  30.)  Further- 

52 


HOUSING  PROBLEMS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS 


53 


MINNEAPOLIS  CIVIC  &  COMMERCE  ASSOCIATION 


54 


HOUSING  PROBLEMS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS 


55 


MINNEAPOLIS  CIVIC  &  COMMERCE  ASSOCIATION 


56 


HOUSING  PROBLEMS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS 


I 

bo 

c 

o 

CC 
u 
U 

o 

C 


57 


MINNEAPOLIS  CIVIC  &  COMMERCE  ASSOCIATION 

more,  2%  of  the  tenement  toilets  are  located  in  the  yard,  some- 
thing which  is  absolutely  inexcusable.  See  Illustration  31  for  a 
three-decker.  Sixty-five  per  cent  of  the  tenement  toilets  were 
located  in  the  halls  rather  than  in  the  apartment  proper,  and 
were  more  or  less  common  property,  used  by  tenants,  by  em- 
ployes of  the  stores  below,  and  by  the  public  in  general.  In  one 
district,  83%  of  the  tenement  toilets  had  no  ventilation  except  in 
the  halls,  bedrooms,  kitchens,  and  living  rooms  adjoining  them. 
It  will  help  you  to  realize  what  this  means  if  you  try  to  conceive 
of  your  toilet  facilities  located  in  a  dark  closet  adjoining  your 
dining  room,  and  having  no  ventilation  except  into  this  room  in 
which  you  and  your  family  eat.  In  one  instance,  a  single  com- 
partment was  found  used  as  both  toilet  and  pantry.  The  con- 
trivance ventilated  directly  and  exclusively  into  the  kitchen,  and 
was  absolutely  dark  when  the  door  was  closed.  In  district  two, 
56%  of  the  tenement  closets  were  without  ventilation.  (See 
Table  6.) 


No.  31.     Three-decker  tenement  privy  and  no  yard. 


Enclosed    Plumbing 
Means  Filth. 


Another  feature  to  be  noticed  is  the  prev- 
alence of  antiquated  and  filthy  plumbing. 
It  is  illegal  to  repair  enclosed  plumbing 

in  this  city,  but  the  law  is  constantly  disregarded.     Illustration 
32  shows  enclosed  plumbing  at Central  Avenue.     The 

58 


HOUSING  PROBLEMS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS 

TABLE  6.     APARTMENTS  BY  LOCATION  AND  CONDITION 
OF  CLOSETS. 


Location 

Condition 

Ventilation 

Total 

Apart- 
ment 

Hall 

Yard 

Clean 

Dirty 

Very 
Dirty 

Possible 

Not 
Possible 

Tenements   
Per  cent  
Dwellings  
Per  cent  
Total  
Per  cent  

87 
33 
16 
18 
103 
30 

172 

65 

172 
48; 

6 

2 
71 
82 
77 
22 

149 
56 

41 
48 
190 
54 

98 
37 
31 
35 
129 
37 

18 

7 
15 
17 
33 
9 

67 
25 
81 
93 
148 
42 

198 

75 
6 

7 
204 
58 

265 
100 
87 
100 
352 
100 

No.  32.     Rotten  enclosed  plumbing  as  re- 
vealed by  flashlight. 

59 


MINNEAPOLIS  CIVIC  &  COMMERCE  ASSOCIATION 

woodwork  is  saturated  and  rotten,  and  through  the  open  cracks 
arises  at  times  an  odor,  which  is  capable  of  causing  the  uninitiated 

to  beat  a  hasty  retreat.     At Fifth  Street  S.,  may  be  seen 

examples  of  the  long  hopper  closet,  the  distinguishing  feature  of 
which  is  a  long,  filth-besmeared,  upright  tube,  running  down  to  a 
trap  in  a  filthy  pit  beneath  the  floor.  There  are,  moreover,  thou- 
sands of  now-unused  vaults  and  cesspools  over  this  city  which 
were  never  properly  cleaned  out  and  filled  with  clean  earth  when 
the  necessity  for  them  ceased.  (See  Illus.  33.) 


No.  33.    Neglected  vault,  a  source  of  yard  pollution.    Should  be  emp- 
tied and  filled  with  clean  earth. 


TABLE  7.     APARTMENTS  BY  BATH  AND  HOT  WATER. 


Bath 
Used   by 
One 
Family 

Bath 

Used    by 
More 
Than 
One 
Family 

No 
Bath 

Total 

Hot 
Water 

No 
Hot 
Water 

Tenements 

75 

22 

168 

265 

68 

197 

Per  cent  
Dwellings 

29 
3 

8 

63 

84 

100 

87 

26 

3 

.  74 

84 

Per  cent  ..  

3 

97 

100 

3 

97 

Total    _  

78 

22 

252 

352 

71 

281 

Per  cent 

22 

7 

71 

100 

20 

80 

60 


HOUSING  PROBLEMS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS 

AN  UNWASHED  POPULATION 

Absence  of  Bath  Out    of    265    tenement    families,    8% 

Rooms  and  Hot  Water,      shared  a  bath  room  in  common  with 

other  families.     Only  29%  had  private 

bath  rooms,  and  63%  had  no  access  to  bath  rooms  at  all.  (Table 
7.)  A  considerable  number  have  a  bath  room  but  no  hot  water. 
The  new  Seattle  Code  requires:  "In  each  apartment  of  every 
tenement  or  apartment  house  there  shall  be  at  least  one  proper 
and  efficient  shower  bath  or  fixed  bath  tub  complete  for  bathing, 
and  when  there  are  three  or  more  rooms  such  shower  bath  or 
bath  tub  shall  be  accessible  without  passing  through  any  bed- 
room." 

Are  Bath  Tubs  It  is  common  to  hear  slurring  remarks  about 
A  Necessity  or  "the  great  unwashed."  Some  people  have  ob- 
a  Luxury  ?  jected  to  living  on  certain  car  lines  because  of 

the  unpleasant  odor  emanating  from  the  many 
laboring  men  who  use  these  lines.  We  send  children  home  from 
school  because  they  come  dirty.  Has  it  never  occurred  to  you 
who  are  employers  that  your  firemen,  your  shovelers,  your  labor- 
ers of  every  kind,  without  whose  services  you  could  never  carry 
on  your  business,  and  whose  physical  well-being  is  so  essential 
to  your  success,  need  privileges  afforded  by  a  bath  tub  as  much  as 
you  do,  if  not  more?  Yet  out  of  our  352  families,  71%  had  no 
bath  tubs  and  80%  had  no  hot  water  connections  in  their  apart- 
ments. (Table  7.)  Ask  yourself  how  soon  you  would  take  your 
next  bath  if  you  had  no  bath  tub  and  had  to  carry  in  all  your 
water  from  a  yard  hydrant,  which  perhaps  you  first  had  to 
thaw  out. 


61 


Chapter  II 
PERILOUS  NEGLECT 

Water  Supply,  Slop  Disposal,  Garbage  and  Ashes  Dis- 
posal, and  Dilapidation 


_  iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiil! 

"You  cannot  work  a  man  as  hard  as  a  horse  is 
worked,  ami  house  him  worse  than  a  horse  is  housed 
and  expect  him  to  have  high  asperations. 

—Jack  London 


Insufficient  If  one  cares  to  take  the  trouble  to  go  to  the 

Water  Supply,  corner  of  Third  Street  North  and  Tenth  Ave., 
he  will  find  behind  a  row  of  houses  a  single 
hydrant,  shown  in  Illustration  34,  which,  at  the  time  this  investi- 
gation was  made,  afforded  the  sole  water  supply  for  the  seven- 
teen families  that  lived  in  the  ten  neighboring  houses.  From 
November  on,  this  hydrant  is  frozen  a  great  deal  of  the  time  and 
must  be  thawed  out  whenever  water  is  drawn.  This  hardship 
falls  heavily  upon  many  of  the  women  as  they  make  their  living 
by  taking  in  washing.  Not  far  away,  the  cistern  shown  in  Illus- 
tration 35  affords  the  sole  water  supply  for  three  families.  The 
pump  was  out  of  order  and  a  rope  and  pail  were  used  to  elevate 
the  water. 

Wells  and  Cisterns  No    one   doubts    the   necessity   of    an 

Supply  Many  Families,      abundant  and  pure  water  supply  within 

easy  access  of  every  family;  neverthe- 
less, only  50%  of  the  dwellings  investigated  have  water  within 
them.  Of  the  remaining  50%,  24%  secured  their  supply  from 
hydrants;  24%  more  got  theirs  from  wells,  and  the  remaining 
2%  had  nothing  but  cisterns.  (Table  8.)  Carrying  water  from 
a  well  seldom  means  that  the  well  is  close  at  hand  as  nearly 
always  one  well  supplies  a  considerable  number  of  families. 

62 


HOUSING  PROBLEMS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS 


IT 


I 


63 


MINNEAPOLIS  CIVIC  &  COMMERCE  ASSOCIATION 

Water  a  Precious      A  special  study  of  119  houses  in  North  Min- 

Commodity.  neapolis,    centered    upon    the    question    of 

water  supply,  gave  results  as  follows:    City 

water  in  the  kitchen,  69 ;  city  water  in  the  yard,  37 ;  cisterns  in 
the  yard,  3;  no  water  at  all,  10.  As  these  were  chosen  haphazard 
over  a  large  area,  the  proportion  has  significance  for  the  whole 
district  bounded  by  Hennepin  Avenue  and  Twenty-fifth  Avenue 
North,  and  Sixth  Street  North  and  the  river.  That  would  mean 
that  only  58%  of  the  dwellings  in  this  district  have  an  adequate 
and  convenient  water  supply,  that  34%  have  water  on  the  prem- 
ises, but  are  obliged  to  carry  all  that  they  use  from  a  hydrant  or 
a  pump  in  the  yard,  and  that  8%  have  no  water  on  the  premises 
whatever.  A  hydrant  or  well,  however  inconvenient  when  com- 
pared to  water  in  the  house,  is  incomparably  better  than  no  water 
supply  at  all.  The  following  examples  illustrate : 

52a. — A  family  of  seven  depends  for  water  upon  a  hydrant  in 
the  kitchen  of  a  neighbor. 

66a. — A  family  of  three,  mother  and  two  small  children,  se- 
cures water  supply  two  houses  away,  from  a  hydrant. 

73a. — A  family  of  six,  living  upstairs,  find  a  water  supply  in 
a  stable,  100  feet  distant.  They  have  to  watch  their  opportunity, 
as  the  stable  is  frequently  locked. 

1 19a. — Family  of  six.  Water  supply  in  summer,  a  hydrant  in 
the  wall  of  a  neighbor's  house,  shared  by  six  other  families.  This 
supply  cut  off  in  winter  so  that  the  whole  group  must  go  to  a 
well  in  the  next  block. 


TABLE  8.     APARTMENTS  BY  LOCATION  AND  NATURE  OF  WATER 

SUPPLY. 


Yard 

ment 

Hall 

Hy- 
drant 

Well 

Cistern 

None 

Total 

Tenements    

210 

49 

6 

265 

Per  cent  

80 

18 

2 

100 

Dwellings  
Per  cent 

42 
48 

2 
2 

21 

24 

20 
24 

2 
2 

87 
100 

Total  -  
Per  cent  -  

252 
71 

51 
14 

21 
6 

26 

8 

2 
1 

352 
100 

64 


HOUSING  PROBLEMS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS 


65 


MINNEAPOLIS  CIVIC  &  COMMERCE  ASSOCIATION 

All  but  2%  of  the  tenements  had  water  supplied  somewhere 
within  them.  For  18%  of  the  tenement  families,  this  water  sup- 
ply was  in  the  hall,  which  often  means  in  the  hall  toilet,  in  which 
case  there  is  no  kitchen  sink  and  waste  water  must  be  poured 
into  the  closet.  Kitchen  slops  and  laundry  suds  are  not  conducive 
to  clean  smelling,  sanitary  water  closets.  Outside  of  the  sani- 
tary considerations,  it  is  not  convenient  to  carry  slops  out  to  a 
hall  toilet,  or,  as  must  be  done  in  some  apartments,  for  example 

at Washington  Ave.  S.,  up  a  flight  of  stairs  to  a  hall  closet. 

No  woman  should  be  obliged  either  to  depend  upon  a  faucet  in 
the  toilet  for  the  family  water  supply,  or  to  dispose  of  the  do- 
mestic waste  water  by  pouring  it  into  the  water  closet,  even 
though  the  closet  is  used  only  by  her  family.  Conditions  are 
very  much  worse  where  a  single  closet  serves  the  purposes  of 
several  families  in  this  way.  Such  instances  are  only  too  frequent. 


UNSANITARY  DISPOSITION  OF  KITCHEN  SLOPS 

The  Back  Yard  It  should  be  remembered  that  a  house  without 
as  a  Slop  Sink.  water  is  a  house  without  a  sink.  Sometimes 
a  sink  is  lacking  even  when  water  is  installed. 
The  absence  of  a  sink  almost  invariably  means  the  throwing  of 
waste  water  out  into  the  yard.  The  exceptions  are  found  where 
an  outside  drainage  arrangement  is  installed.  Such  devices  are 
generally  flat  failures,  as  they  freeze  in  the  winter,  whereupon  a 
mound  of  frozen  slops  accumulates  over  the  catch-basin,  as  shown 
in  Illustration  36.  In  Illustration  37  can  be  seen  two  outdoor 
catch-basins  which  are  arranged  to  be  drained  by  a  vertical  pipe. 
Such  a  pipe  freezes  very  early  in  our  climate.  The  subsequent 
disposal  of  slops  is  illustrated  by  the  pile  of  ice  and  corruption  be- 
low. The  stench  in  such  courts,  after  the  spring  sun  has  thawed 
out  the  accumulation  of  a  winter,  and  the  heat  of  summer  has 
putrined  the  deposits  left  in  and  upon  the  soil,  is  something  in- 
describable. The  only  proper  escape  from  such  unsanitary  yards 
is  in  the  possession  by  each  house  of  its  own  sewer  connected 
sink  and  the  accompanying  pure  water  supply. 

66 


HOUSING  PROBLEMS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS 


67 


MINNEAPOLIS  CIVIC  &  COMMERCE  ASSOCIATION 


o 

•8 

JO 

3 

ho 

C 


68 


HOUSING  PROBLEMS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS 

No  Water  Means     From  the  special  investigation  of  119  houses 
No  Sink.  in  North  Minneapolis,  it  was  found  that  in 

41%  the  back  yard  becomes  a  slop  hole,  un- 
less, perchance,  the  housekeeper  is  of  the  more  conscientious  sort, 
and  carries  the  waste  water  out  into  the  street,  where,  to  be  sure, 
"it  smells  awful  by  spring."  Two  women  were  seen  carrying  their 
pails  to  the  sewer  hole  at  the  corner  of  the  street.  Of  the  59% 
with  water  in  apartments,  85%  have  sinks  connected  with  the 
sewer.  The  remainder  have  to  carry  out  all  waste  water  in  pails. 
In  some  cases  there  is  a  sewer  hole  in  the  yard,  but  as  no  one  is 
responsible  for  keeping  it  clean,  it  is  soon  clogged,  and  in  the 
winter  is  frozen  so  that  the  whole  yard  is  consequently  soaked 
with  sewage. 

ASHES  AND  GARBAGE,  AN  EYESORE  AND  A 
MENACE 

For  Lack  of      Illustration  38  is  not  a  picture  taken  in  a  crowded 
a  System.  tenement  district,  but  rather  in  a  comparatively 

open  section  where  there  is  ample  yard  and  space. 
However,  a  pool  of  water,  and  an  immense  pile  of  ashes  and  gar- 
bage rob  the  surroundings  of  all  charm.  These,  together  with 
the  rough  stable  that  is  thrust  against  one  of  the  houses,  intro- 
duce a  very  serious  menace  to  the  health  of  the  people  who  live 
there.  In  Illustration  39  will  be  seen  a  long  row  of  houses,  reach- 
ing straight  through  a  block,  and  behind  it  a  narrow  alley  which 
forms  the  sole  playground  for  the  children  of  the  40  families  in 
the  row.  Illustration  40  is  another  picture  of  this  garbage  littered 
passageway  through  which  many  of  us  would  hesitate  even  to 
pick  our  way.  On  the  premises  of  one  of  the  old  dwellings  of 
North  Minneapolis  which  are  being  converted  into  tenements  by 
virtue  of  the  fact  they  are  now  occupied  by  three  or  four,  or  even 
a  greater  number  of  families,  we  found  the  pile  of  rubbish  and 
garbage  which  appears  in  Illustration  41.  The  house  had  been 
placarded  by  the  Health  Department  as  unfit  for  occupancv.  but 
without  any  apparent  result.  On  all  of  these  neglected  premises 
there  are  children — children  such  as  those  whose  faces  smile  in 
Illustrations  42,  43,  and  44.  The  health  and  wholesome  upbring- 
ing of  these  children  are  dependent  to  even  a  greater  degree  than 
is  the  health  and  upbringing  of  the  children  of  the  well-to-do, 

69 


MINNEAPOLIS  CIVIC  &  COMMERCE  ASSOCIATION 


70 


HOUSING  PROBLEMS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS 

upon  the  character  of  the  houses  in  which  they  live,  and  the  na- 
ture of  the  physical  surroundings  about  these  houses.  They  have 
neither  the  traditions  nor  the  parentage  to  make  them  superior 
to  the  effects  of  garbage,  dirt,  and  neglect,  but  they  do  havejihe 
capacity  to  profit  by  the  clean  things  of  life  if  opportunity  is 
given. 


No.  39.    Housing  for  40  families  with  no  place  for  children  to  play  except 
filthy  alley  and  dangerous  streets. 

71 


MINNEAPOLIS  CIVIC  &  COMMERCE  ASSOCIATION 

DILAPIDATION 

Repairs          Notwithstanding  the  excellent  work  which  lies  to  the 
Neglected,      credit  of  our  present  Building  Inspector  and  the 
Health  Department  in  the  condemnation  of  dilapi- 
dated structures,  there  still  remain  some  which  could  be  elimi- 


No.  40.    Three  hundred  and  thirty  feet  of  ashes  and  filth — the  sole  play- 
ground for  the  children  of  the  40  families  in  the  row. 

72 


HOUSING  PROBLEMS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS 


/        '"'/A 


W) 


73 


MINNEAPOLIS  CIVIC  &  COMMERCE  ASSOCIATION 

nated  if  the  public  gave  better  support.  Illustration  45  is  a  good 
example.  Dilapidation,  the  result  of  long  years  of  neglect,  is  a 
conspicuous  characteristic  of  the  houses  to  be  had  at  the  laborer's 
rental.  Some  of  the  features  which  abound  are  rickety  outside 
stairs,  unroofed,  covered  with  snow  and  ice  in  winter,  up  which, 
often,  all  of  the  water  must  be  carried  at  considerable  risk  to  the 
bearer;  windows  which  freeze  down  in  winter  because  of  the  ab- 
sence of  storm  windows,  and  thaw  on  melting  days  into  damp- 
ness that  soaks  the  walls  and  floor ;  paper  that  hangs  in  streamers 


No.  42.     Children  of  the  "Brick  Block." 
74 


HOUSING  PROBLEMS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS 

from  the  ceilings,  or  stands  away  from  the  walls,  in  huge,  stiff, 
sheets;  houses  where  a  band  of  frost,  three  feet  high,  stands  out 
like  white  velvet  upon  the  walls  in  the  morning,  and  thaws  into 
rivulets  by  mid-day;  houses  where  vegetables  cannot  be -kept 
from  freezing,  and  where  repairs  have  not  been  known  for  years. 
One  house  near  a  stable  had  beneath  it  during  the  spring  a  pool 
of  water  that  drains  down  from  the  stable  yard.  In  the  winter 
the  pool  is  a  block  of  ice.  The  house  is  always  damp.  Other 
similar  situations  can  be  found. 


No.  43.     Syrian  children  needing  better  training  for  citizenship  than  ia 
furnished  by  the  crowded  tenement. 

75 


MINNEAPOLIS  CIVIC  &  COMMERCE  ASSOCIATION 


76 


HOUSING  PROBLEMS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS 


c 
o 

4-> 

bo 


12 

"a 


77 


Chapter  III 

DANGEROUS  TENDENCIES 

The  Tendency  Toward  Crowding,  Toward  Apartment 
House  Life,  Toward  Houses  on  Our  Back  Yards,  Atten- 
tion to  City  Planning  Needed,  Kinds  of  Housing  De- 
manded. 

PIMM 

"I  find  no  ground,  for  optimism  concerning  the 
future  of  Minneapolis.  So  far  as  I  can  see  your  city 
will  repeat  the  story  thus  far  related  ty  all  great 
American  cities,  heing  good  at  first,  then  bad,  and 
finally,  like  Chicago  and  New  York." 

— Dr.   \VWner  Hegemann 

illlllllllllllllllllllllllilM 


The  above  remark  was  made  by  Dr.  Werner  Hegemann,  the 
famous  German  city  planning  expert,  when  he  spent  a  few  days 
with  us  last  summer  on  his  trip  around  the  world  in  search  for 
the  model  city.  It  was  prompted  of  his  close  consideration  of 
lot-overcrowding  in  this  city.  By  lot-overcrowding  is  meant  the 
practice  of  allowing  too  great  a  number  of  people  to  live  on  a 
certain  ground  area.  To  the  members  of  the  Minneapolis  Civic 
&  Commerce  Association,  proud  as  they  are  of  their  city  as  a  city 
of  lakes  and  gardens,  a  city  of  parks,  lawns,  and  open  spaces,  the 
suggestion  that  overcrowding  threatens  must  seem  fairly  prepos- 
terous. Nevertheless  we  found  10%  of  the  lots  upon  which  the 
buildings  included  in  this  investigation  were  located,  were  suffi- 
ciently populated  so  that  the  same  density  continued  over  an  acre 
would  have  meant  a  density  of  300  and  more.  Twenty-two  per 
cent  were  so  populated  as  to  equal  a  density  exceeding  200  per 
acre.  (Table  9.)  To  appreciate  what  these  figures  mean,  it  is 
necessary  to  realize  that  a  standard  of  45  per  acre  seems  to  be 
pretty  generally  accepted  by  real  estate  promoters.  The  condi- 
tions for  the  Chicago  City  Club  contest,  offering  a  prize  for  the 

78 


HOUSING  PROBLEMS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS 

best  development  scheme  for  a  quarter  section,  specified  that  not 
more  than  1,280  families  should  be  provided  for  by  the  plans, 
which  would  mean  a  density  of  approximately  36  to  the  acre, 
including  streets.  Another  contest,  held  by  the  National  Confer- 
ence on  City  Planning  specified  70.  Of  course,  it  was  expected 
that  the  buildings  provided  for  in  these  plans  would  be  of  the 
smaller,  more  individual  type,  rather  than  massive  tenements. 
But  who  would  care  to  advocate  that  Minneapolis  should  develop 
a  policy  of  housing  the  families  of  her  working  people  in  tene- 
ments? We  can  no  more  reasonably  expect  to  raise  a  good  crop 
of  citizens  from  people  planted  300  to  the  acre  than  a  farmer  can 
expect  to  produce  a  good  crop  of  corn  with  no  room  between 
hills,  or  a  gardener  good  tomatoes  if  he  leaves  only  six  inches 
between  the  plants.  The  examples  of  congestion  such  as  Minne- 
apolis already  has  on  many  individual  lots,  if  brought  together 
would  make  a  slum  equal  to  many  of  those  found  in  Eastern 
cities.  As  citizens  of  Minneapolis  we  take  just  pride  in  the  high 
standard  of  intelligence  among  our  people  as  shown  in  their  love 
of  art  and  music,  and  the  extensive  use  they  make  of  library  and 
school.  The  city  has  been  spared  serious  industrial  disputes. 
Our  people,  whether  their  means  are  great  or  small,  are  happy 
and  contented  to  a  degree  which  can  be  appreciated  only  by  those 
who  have  a  first-hand  acquaintance  with  other  cities.  We  must 
make  it  possible  for  these  conditions  to  continue. 

President  Taft  If  one  may  accept  former  President  Taft's 

on  "Back  Yards."      statement  made  recently  when  he  spent  a 
week  among  us,  by  no  means  the  least  fac- 
tor in  producing  this  high  intelligence,  this  content,  this  absence 
of  industrial  warfare,  has  been  the  opportunity  enjoyed  by  so 


TABLE  9.  DENSITY  OF  POPULATION  ON  TENEMENT  LOTS  IN 
TEEMS  OF  DENSITY  PER  ACRE. 


Density  per  Acre 

1  to 
49 

50  to 
99 

100  to 
149 

150  to 

199 

200  to 
249 

250  to 
299 

300 

Total 

Total    . 

2 

2 

13 

7 

n 

2 

3 

31 

Per   cent   

6 

6 

42 

23 

6 

6 

10 

100 

79 


MINNEAPOLIS  CIVIC  &  COMMERCE  ASSOCIATION 

large  a  proportion  of  the  people  to  disport  themselves  upon  a 
bit  of  ground  which  they  can  call  their  own.  Read  what  he  says 
in  speaking  of  our  back-yard  gardens. 

"To  me  there  seems  to  be  involved  more  than  the 
mere  fact  that  these  gardens  yield  bountifully  to  the 
family  table.  There  is  a  psychological  influence  which 
can  hardly  be  estimated  in  dollars  and  cents.  There  is 
something  of  extreme  content  in  pottering  in  the  garden. 
It  is  interesting,  it  is  peaceful,  it  is  healthful,  and  it 
occupies  the  mind  in  splendid  thought.  The  man  who 
spends  his  spare  time  in  spring  and  summer  pottering 
around  the  back  yard  cultivating  vegetables  for  his  table 
and  flowers  for  the  pleasure  of  his  family  and  himself  is 
usually  a  contented  man  and  a  useful  citizen.  He  can 
generally  be  depended  on  to  take  the  right  side  in  any 
controversy.  The  man  who  has  no  back  yard  to  till, 
whose  family  dwells  in  a  tenement  like  those  found  in 
such  numbers  on  the  East  Side  of  New  York,  is  more  apt 
to  live  a  life  of  discontent.  The  tendency  of  his  environ- 
ment is  to  make  him  a  critic  rather  than  a  constructive 
power  in  the  community." 

ROOM  OVERCROWDING 

Fourteen  Land  overcrowding,  however,  is   not  the  only 

People  in  form  of  congestion  which  our  city  is  facing,  as 

Four   Rooms.       the  following  examples  of  room  overcrowding 
conclusively  demonstrate. 

A  Polish  family  of  father  and  mother  and  two  children, 
under  14,  lived  with  nine  men  and  one  woman  lodger  in  four 
rooms.  This  meant  14  people  in  four  rooms,  3.5  persons  per 
room.  The  resulting  cubic  air  space  was  low  in  all  the  rooms, 
but  descended  to  198  in  the  bedroom  occupied  by  six  of  the  men, 
in  contrast  to  400,  the  lowest  minimum  accepted  anywhere. 

The  Lodger  Evil  Again,  a  family  of  father  and  mother  and  two 
Has  Arrived.  little  children,  with  whom  lived  six  lodgers, 

three  men  and  three  women,  were  accommo- 
dated in  four  rooms.  This  meant  that  three  of  the  four  rooms 
were  slept  in,  with  the  resulting  cubic  air  space  per  individual  of 

80 


HOUSING  PROBLEMS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS 


81 


MINNEAPOLIS  CIVIC  &  COMMERCE  ASSOCIATION 


only  256  feet.     There  were  here  10  people  in  four  rooms,  or  2.5 
persons  per  room. 

Another  family  of  father  and  mother  and  five  children,  under 
14,  together  with  six  men  lodgers,  making  a  total  of  13,  lived  in 
four  rooms,  with  the  resulting  ratio  of  3.25  persons  per  room, 
with  a  cubic  air  space  of  only  275  feet  per  individual  in  the  room 
occupied  by  the  six  lodgers. 

Apartments  in  which  the  average  is  more  than  one  and  one- 
half  persons  per  room  may  be  considered  crowded.  Those  which 
average  two  persons  or  more  are  badly  crowded,  especially  when 
the  rooms  are  small.  Upon  this  basis,  14%  of  the  tenement  apart-' 
ments  are  crowded,  and  7%  are  badly  crowded.  Of  the  dwelling 
apartments  21%  are  crowded,  and  9%  are  badly  crowded.  (Tables 
10  and  11.)  Of  the  26  families  in  one  block,  14,  or  54%,  inhabited 
rooms  at  a  ratio  to  exceed  1%  persons  per  room,  while  11  or  42%, 
inhabited  rooms  at  a  ratio  to  exceed  two  persons  per  room.  In  a 
large  number  of  cases  all  of  the  rooms,  except  the  room  used  as 
kitchen,  are  habitually  occupied  as  sleeping  rooms,  and  very  often 
the  kitchen  has  a  dirty  couch  in  it  which  can  be  utilized  in  case  of 
an  emergency. 


Plate  VI.     Basement  apartment.     Rear  rooms  virtually  unlighted  cellar 
rooms.     See  Illustration  10. 

82 


HOUSING  PROBLEMS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS 


l«» 

»!< 

IO   b-  (M 

CD  00  10 
CM           CO' 

+ 

rTrH  (M 

30 

rH   rH 

>>    ^ 

cc 

[~ 

rH   rH 

"fl*1""13 

a 

CO 

rH  CM  CO 

|  °.£? 

§ 

jO 

T*H  CM  CD 

oi 

fn 

" 

•* 

IO  CM  b- 

g 

re 

rH   rH 

01 

r-H 

+ 

PH 

l^ 

0 

>>      ff 

• 

CO 

rH   rH   CM 

W 

1  =  | 

I 
2 

" 

rH   rH   CM 
CO  rH   TtH 

S 

re 

rH            rH 

g 

01 

rH           rH 

P 

rH 

+ 

^Th 

E_I 

CO 

CO  CO 

£2 

i 

• 

a 

10 

rH  IO  CD 

rH           rH 

0 

03   °   " 

^ 

Oi  »O  rfH 

rH 

EH 

re 

CM  CO  IO 

CM 

rH  rH   CM 

!_q 

rH 

PH 

+ 

CO   CO  CD 

fe 

- 

ag 

»0 

rH  CM  CO 
rH          rH 

M 

S'Scc 

H^ 

b-  CM  O5 

02 

fe 

^ 

cc 

CO          CO 

pq 

0] 

CM           CM 

r-i 

M 

+ 

tO  10  rH 
rH           CM 

<1 

^««-,  3 

§ 

H- 

Oi  CO  CM 
rH           CM 

PH 

1  0<2 

g 

CO 

rH   Tt<   1C 

rH            rH 

rM 

O) 

rH   rH   CM 

O 

rH 

W 

>.       a/ 

+ 

CO  CD   05 

OQ 

."S          0; 

5 
o 

CO 

rH           CM 

. 

fc      "^ 

g 

Ol 

CO  CO  CD 

fe 

rH 

g 

>. 

+ 

rH    CO   b- 

o 

1*0^ 

01 

"*   TjH    00 

rH           rH 

W 

** 

— 

CO           CO 

02 

0 

M 
EH 

Tenements  
Dwellings  
Total  

1 

IO  O  b-  O  CM  O 

CD  O  QO  O  IO  O 
CM  rH    rH  CO  rH 

T  c  > 

,S, 

CM  rH  rH 

rH  CO  i—  1 

CJ  ~  CM° 

CO  rH  rH 

rH  -^  rH 

o\ 
"  pj 

CM  IO  CD 
rH 

b-  00  IO 

rH 

J.JI 

O5  b-  rH 
rH     rH 

CM  O  O5 
rH  CO 

-fi^ 

CD  O  IO 
O  TjH  CO 

O  rH  O 

i!l*,« 


. 

<B    ^    0)    0    0> 

H  PH  ft  fn  H  rH 


83 


MINNEAPOLIS  CIVIC  &  COMMERCE  ASSOCIATION 


Crowding  of  Just  what  standard  to  adopt  as  the  number  of 

Sleeping  Rooms       feet  of  cubic  air  space  desirable  in  sleeping 
a  Serious  Evil.  rooms  is  somewhat  of  a  question.     Chicago, 

New  York,  Minneapolis,  most  cities  in  fact, 
require  400  cubic  feet  for  an  adult,  and  200  cubic  feet  for  children 
under  12  years  of  age.  A  number  of  cities,  however,  provide 
for  the  reduction  of  the  numbers  in  overcrowded  apartments 
so  that  each  adult  shall  have  600  cubic  feet  of  air  space,  and  each 
child  under  12  years,  400.  Table  12  is  made  up  on  the  latter 
basis,  considering  every  child  under  12  as  two-thirds  of  an  adult. 
Twenty-seven  per  cent  of  the  apartments  in  the  tenements  had 
sleeping  space  below  this  standard.  Of  the  dwellings,  44%  are 
below.  It  is  evident,  both  from  this  table  and  from  the  preced- 
ing one,  that  more  room  overcrowding  is  to  be  found  in  the  dwell- 
ings than  in  the  tenements.  On  the  basis  of  400  cubic  feet  air 
space  for  an  adult,  and  200  cubic  feet  for  a  child,  15%  of  the  total 
apartments  are  overcrowded  in  respect  to  sleeping  space.  It  is 
evident  that  a  tendency  toward  overcrowding  is  already  becom- 
ing a  fact  in  this  city  of  hitherto  broad  spaces  and  well  distributed 
population. 


Bohemian  Flats 
Population  Not 
Averse  to  Crowding. 


As  the  Southern  European  population  in- 
creases in  the  city,  we  may  expect  results 
which  are  increasingly  serious  in  a  grow- 
ing ratio  much  greater  than  the  propor- 
tionate increase  in  numbers.     A  glance  into  23  houses  in  Bohem- 
ian Flats  below  Washington  Avenue  bridge  is  suggestive.  These 
people  are  mostly  Slavic.     From  year  to  year  they  lease  the; 


TABLE  12.     APARTMENTS  BY  AVERAGE  CUBIC  AIR  SPACE  PER 

INDIVIDUAL. 


o 

100 

200 

300 

400 

500 

to 

to 

to 

to 

to 

to 

600  + 

Total 

49 

149 

299 

399 

499 

599 

Tenements   

8 

26 

17 

20 

194 

265 

Per  cent  

3 

10 

6 

8 

73 

100 

Dwellings   

2 

7 

10 

11 

8 

49 

87 

Per  cent  

2 

8 

11 

13 

9 

56 

100 

Total  

2 

15 

36 

28 

28 

243 

352 

Per    cent    

1 

4 

10 

8 

8 

68 

100 

84 


HOUSING  PROBLEMS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS 

ground  upon  which  their  poor  shacks  are  built.  Of  23  of  these 
families,  10  were  below  the  400  standard,  and  19  were  below  the 
600  standard  of  cubic  air  space  in  sleeping  rooms.  Five  families 
of  eight  live  in  apartments  of  two  rooms,  and  one  family  of  seven 
lives  in  a  two-room  shack.  When  these,  and  the  hundreds  of 
others  of  their  kind,  are  driven  out  of  the  Flats  by  the  rising  of 
the  river  upon  the  near  completion  of  the  navigation  dam,  and 
the  improvement  of  the  river  front,  what  will  it  mean  for  the  ten- 
ements we  have  been  studying?  These  people  inevitably  seek 
the  lowest  rent,  and  Minneapolis  will  begin  to  realize  that  bhe 
has  a  foreign  population  in  tenements,  not  at  first  a  great  popula- 


Plate   VII.     Dark,   unventilated  basement  rooms    and   toilets   found  in 
building  shown  in  Illustration  12. 

85 


MINNEAPOLIS  CIVIC  &  COMMERCE  ASSOCIATION 

tion,  to  be  sure,  but  one  which  is  destined  to  grow,  and  bring 
with  it  serious  tenement  problems  unless  preventive  action  is 
immediately  taken. 

Light  Housekeeping  A  real  and  present  problem  in  overcrowd- 
Problem  Serious.  ing  which  remains  to  be  mentioned  is 

found  in  rooms  devoted  to  light  house- 
keeping.    The  Tables  ISA,  B,  and  C  show  a  comparison  between 

light  housekeeping  apartments   (sub-rented)   in  the  

Flats  and  the  apartments  in  the  same  buildings  which  were  in- 
cluded in  Table  3  of  this  report.  There  are  12  families  of  two 
members,  five  families  of  three  members,  and  three  families  of 
four  members  doing  light  housekeeping  in  one  room  apartments, 
and  two  families  of  five  members  having  only  two-room  apart- 


No.  47.  An  old  well,  the  source  of  water  supply  for  several  families  and 
the  children  of  the  neighborhood.  Note  the  disk  near  the  spout — 
shown  more  clearly  in  next  illustration. 

86 


HOUSING  PROBLEMS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS 

ments.  These  are  from  a  total  of  44  and  represent  22  cases 
of  severe  crowding.  Altogether  54%  of  the  44  apartments  are 
crowded  to  exceed  two  or  more  people  per  living  room.  This 
crowding  is  the  worse  because  of  the  fact  that  the  one  or  two 
rooms  are  used  for  all  living  purposes.  This  is  in  accordance 
with  the  principle  laid  down  in  a  recent  study  of  families  in  fur- 
nished rooms  in  Chicago,  where,  because  of  the  fact  that  in  light 
housekeeping  one  room  is  likely  to  be  kitchen,  dining  room,  and 
bedroom,  as  well  as  living  room,  overcrowding  to  the  extent  of 
only  18%  of  the  cases  was  considered  a  serious  matter.  Upon 
this  basis  the  light  housekeeping  problem  in  this  city  is,  in  pro- 
portion to  its  extent,  every  bit  as  serious  as  the  Chicago  problem, 
if  indeed  it  is  not  more  so. 


No.  48.  The  disk  says,  "Don't  drink  this  water.  It  is  impure. — Board  of 
Health."  It  has  been  there  for  nearly  two  years.  See  preceding 
illustration. 

87 


MINNEAPOLIS  CIVIC  &  COMMERCE  ASSOCIATION 


O 


JB10X 

•T»H    05 
rfi  (M 

+ 

L-- 

co" 



^       c 

'E*O  > 

»f3 

£    ^ 

-h 
co~ 

rH 

71 

i—  I 

± 

1°'^ 

EC, 

<0 

^ 
*& 

CO 

r-l  i—\ 

u  . 

01 

1—  i 

rH 

+ 

LO 

^ 

ri 

TtH 

co" 



OJ 

eg 

^— 

+ 

>> 

"* 

(M 

l-sl 

CO 

i—(  (M 

<M 

T—  1    I—  I 

i—  1 

CO 

+ 

« 

co 

eg 

t2      r-1 

eg 

CO  rH 

rH 

IO 

>, 

+ 

^  05 

IN 

q 

o  eg 

pH 

eg 

i—  i 

Kooms  Occupied  | 

Light  Housekeeping  .  | 
Other  Families  | 

1 

T^  O  00  O 

^  o  eg  o 

T-H                I—  1 

h 

f 

CO  b- 

„*, 

10  i-H 
rH 

ON 

o> 

so  «o  eg  oo 

^£S 

i-H  CO 

2*2 

CO  b- 

^ 

i—  1  CO  i—  1  CO 

- 

CO  b-  «D  b- 

bc 

s 

d 

«  s 

;] 
|i 

ft 
o> 

2          <n 
1        1 

§      S 

z 

w-sfis 

^  s  ^  s 

^3         <t> 

&C  SH   ^     SH 

rH       0    t3       0^ 

JpLnOPM 

f 

TjH  O  00  O 

•*  o  eg  o 

h 

Sd 

co       eg  oo 

IS 

co  b-  eg  b- 

8?fi 

10  I-H  eg  b- 

|d 

K 

ge 

CO  b- 

Su 

eg  »o 

s5 

1-1  u 

be    ! 

^ 

9  -j'  1  1 

<  " 

81  1  '•  1 

.—     Q. 

•°  ^ 

44     {  «    j 

U 

QJ       I  rt       i 

i   !l    ! 

^  rt  (*<  c 

HOUSING  PROBLEMS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS 

Tendency   Should      These  facts  should  be  sufficient  to  prove  that 

Be  Opposed.  overcrowding  is  not  a  matter  which  our  city 

may   safely   ignore.     Before   our   standards 

are  forced  lower,  Minneapolis  should  adopt  the  600  cubic  feet 
standard  for  sleeping  space,  and  give  some  city  department  the 
authority  for  enforcing  it  whenever  necessary.  Veiller  lays  down 
a  valuable  principle  in  these  words,  "It  is  a  very  wise  maxim 
never  to  set  your  standards  lower  than  the  standards  that  are 
actually  adhered  to  at  the  time  the  law  is  enacted."  (Housing 
Reform,  page  26.)  Minneapolis  should  by  every  possible  means 
strive  to  maintain  her  present  standards  of  density.  Nothing 
could  be  more  calculated  to  develop  to  their  utmost  the  possibil- 
ities for  ill  in  the  mistakes  in  past  construction  which  have  been 
discussed  in  the  preceding  pages,  than  a  dense  foreign  population. 
So,  too,  nothing  could  so  turn  the  tendency  of  present  construc- 
tion, which  is  now  to  be  discussed,  into  a  source  of  civic  shame. 


THE  MENACE  OF  THE  APARTMENT  HOUSE 

Apartment  Houses     The  tendency  of  modern  housing  is  strongly 

Dangerous.  toward  the  apartment  house  type.     As  ev^ 

eryone  knows,  the   name  apartment  house 

is  simply  a  polite  term  for  tenement.     Apartment  houses  are  the 
tenements  of  the  well-to-do,  and  may  be  quite  as  serious  a  social 


TABLE  14.     CHARACTER  OF  RECENT  HOUSING  CONSTRUCTION. 


Number 
of  Flat 
and 
Apartm't 
B'ld'gs 

No.  of 
Suits  in 
Flats  and 
Apartm't 
Houses 

No,  of 
Duplex 
and 
Double 
Houses 

No.  of 
Suits  in 
Duplex 
and  Dou- 
ble 
Houses 

No.  of 
Single 
Dwell- 
ings 

Total 
Apartments 
or  Suites 

1907 

51 

338 

113 

216 

1903 

2476 

Per   cent 

14 

9 

77 

100 

1908    
Per   cent 

58 

433 

14 

216 

432 
14 

2237 

72 

3102 
100 

1909    
Per  cent 

55 

312 
10 

228* 

456 

7 

2643 
83 

3183 
100 

1910 

76 

589 

162* 

324 

2419 

3332 

Per   cent   
1911 

99 

18 
706 

94* 

10 

188 

72 
2292 

100 
3186 

Per  cent  _  
1912    .. 

127 

22 
1202 

135 

6 
270 

72 
1921 

100 
3393 

Per   cent   

35 

8 

57 

100 

3  double  houses  included. 


89 


MINNEAPOLIS  CIVIC  &  COMMERCE  ASSOCIATION 

problem  in  their  own  way  as  tenements  are  in  theirs.  Table  14 
shows  the  present  trend  of  construction.  The  Building  Inspect- 
or's records  show  that  there  were  constructed  in  1912,  in  dwell- 
ings, duplexes,  and  apartment  houses,  6%  more  places  designed 
for  the  residence  of  a  family  than  were  constructed  in  1909.  Dur- 
ing these  three  years,  the  number  of  dwelling  houses  constructed 
decreased  27%,  the  provision  for  families  in  duplexes  decreased 
40%,  while  the  number  of  family  suites  constructed  in  apartment 
houses  INCREASED  almost  400%.  In  other  words,  much  as 
we  may  regret  it,  Minneapolis  is  fast  losing  its  right  to  claim 
itself  a  "City  of  Homes." 


No.  49.     A  modern  apartment  house. 


Housing  Problems  of  Dr.  Werner  Hegemann  of  Berlin,  the  fa- 
New  York  and  mous  city  planner,  after  looking  over 
Chicago  Impending  some  of  these  apartments,  said:  "It 
Here.  looks  as  though  your  city  were  to  be  like 
all  American  cities,  good  at  first,  then 

bad,  and  finally  like  Chicago  and  New  York,  very  bad.  And 
what  is  most  discouraging,  the  people  do  not  shrink  from  the 
conditions  of  Chicago  and  New  York.  If  the  people  of  Minne- 
apolis were  to  vote  today  to  decide  whether  or  not,  in  the  wink 
of  an  eye,  Minneapolis  should  be  given  the  size  of  Chicago  with 

90 


HOUSING  PROBLEMS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS 

all  of  the  evils  present  with  that  size,  an  overwhelming  majority 
would  vote  yes."  When  he  saw  the  long  narrow  halls  in  the 

great  new  apartment  house  at  the  corner  of  Lyndale  and 

Ave.  So.,  he  said,  "These  are  'Caserne',  'barracks',"  and  he~took 
a  picture  outside  to  show  the  huge,  blank,  unfinished  wall  of 
this  human  stable  as  it  boldly  thrust  itself  upon  the  row  of  neigh- 
boring residences — neat,  modest,  comfortable  houses,  with  their 
generous,  old-time  lawns. 


Plate  VIII.  Typical  floor  plan  showing  dark  basement  rooms  in  one 
section  of  building  shown  in  Illustrations  2  and  3.  Children  sleep  in 
many  of  these  dark  rooms. 


91 


MINNEAPOLIS  CIVIC  &  COMMERCE  ASSOCIATION 

The  Apartment  Why  is  Minneapolis  thus  turning  toward  the 
House  Craze.  flat?  Why  are  small  apartments  rented  for 

high  sums  before  they  are  completed?  Why 
is  the  double  house  of  this  year  next  year  to  be  turned  into  a  four- 
flat  apartment  house,  and  arranged  to  accommodate  four  families 
in  the  space  now  occupied  by  two?  The  modern  "bachelor's 
apartment"  of  living  room,  bath,  and  kitchenette,  is  it  not  tol 
be  reserved  for  the  unmarried?  Already  hundreds  of  good  fam- 
ilies in  this  city  are  living  in  apartments  of  one  room,  a  bath, 
and  kitchenette.  The  bed  slides  into  the  wall.  One  climbs  a 
flight  of  steps  into  his  bath  tub,  and  steps  into  a  dressing  room 
arranged  over  his  sliding  bed.  Is  space  so  at  a  premium  in  our 
city?  These  are  all  fair  questions. 

Its  Effect.  What  is  the  effect  upon  the  newly  organized  family 
when  they  set  up  housekeeping  in  kitchenette  apart- 
ments, and  are  told  that  children  are  taboo?  Or  again,  what 
does  it  mean  to  a  child  to  grow  up  in  an  apartment  house  where 
his  home  is  like  everyone  else's  home,  except  for  the  number  on 
the  door?  The  long-boasted  American  democracy  and  individu- 
ality may  well  take  thought  for  its  life  among  such  conditions. 

The  Apartment  House  It  is  evident  that  these  developments 
a  Social  Problem.  represent  a  social  problem  rather  than 

a  legal  one.     Reform  is  here  a  matter 

for  agitation  in  Women's  Clubs  rather  than  in  a  council  lobby. 
To  ask  the  question,  is  this  movement  away  from  the  soil,  away 
from  lawns  and  gardens,  a  wholesome  one,  is  to  answer  it. 

Also  an  Economic  To  some  extent,  of  course,  the  tendency 
Problem.  presents  an  economic  problem,  too  compli- 

cated for  discussion  here.       Single-taxers 

find  in  it  ground  for  a  reiteration  of  their  theory.  No  doubt  the 
truth  is  not  all  against  them.  In  spite  of  the  acres  of  undevel- 
oped property  within  the  city,  rents  are  high,  and,  as  any  one 
knows  who  has  made  the  search,  modern  houses  at  a  reasonable 
rental  are  comparatively  scarce.  This  practical  problem  of  high 
rent  for  a  modern  dwelling,  which  the  young  people  must  face, 
and  the  corresponding  relief  from  both  expense  and  responsibility 
afforded  by  "apartments,"  are  real  reasons  for  the  kitchenette 
home.  The  danger  is  that  the  force  of  these  reasons  may  be 

92 


HOUSING  PROBLEMS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS 

deemed  sufficient  to  permanently  estrange  a  growing  family  from 
proper  individual  surroundings,  or  indeed,  a  family  of  two  from 
the  children  which  should  properly  be  theirs. 


Parasitic  Apartment 
Houses. 


The  increasing  use  of  the  land,  of  which  the 
duplex  represents  the  entering  wedge,  and 
the  apartment  house  the  extreme  result, 

spells  peril  to  the  hitherto  high  standard  of  lawns  and  gardens. 

The  man  who  erects  an  apartment  house  in  the  midst  of  a  fash- 


No.  50.  A  group  of  modern  apartments.  Many  rooms  in  the  corner 
building  are  inadequately  lighted  and  ventilated.  For  floor  plan  see 
Plate  IV,  page  42. 

ionable  residence  district  selfishly  capitalizes  the  environment. 
He  capitalizes  the  abundance  of  air,  the  street  vistas,  the  grounds, 
gardens,  fashionable  and  artistic  dwellings,  and  the  social  psy- 
chology which  says  that  it  is  the  correct  thing  to  live  in  that 
particular  portion  of  the  city.  His  suites  are  rented  before  they 
are  finished,  and  the  tenants  move  in  before  the  plaster  is  dry 
upon  the  walls.  The  owner  can  ask  large  rents  and  get  them. 
At  the  same  time  he  has  made  the  district  less  desirable  to  the 
dwellers  in  private  residences,  and  he  has  set  a  new  land  income 
standard  and  taxation  standard  for  the  entire  neighborhood.  After 
the  first  experiment,  the  change  of  a  fine  residence  district  into 
an  apartment  house  district  is  liable  to  be  rapid.  Thus  through 
an  evolution  in  the  type  of  structure  this  city  is  being  robbed  of 
lawns  and  terraces,  and  substituting  the  grim  facade  of  the  tene- 
ment. 

93 


MINNEAPOLIS  CIVIC  &  COMMERCE  ASSOCIATION 

Low  Density  While  it  is  true  that  the  average  density  of 

Per  Acre;  High  population  in  Minneapolis  is  low,  the  aver- 

Density  Per  House,  age  number  of  families  to  houses  is  high. 
The  average  density  is  9.3  persons  per  acre,  which  is  considerably 
lower  than  that  of  any  of  the  larger  cities  except  Washington 
and  Los  Angeles,  and  is  even  lower  than  that  of  five  of  the  ten 
cities  next  in  line  below  Minneapolis.  (See  Table  15.) 

Only  Average  Proportion  If,  however,  we  take  the  average  num- 
of  Dwellings  to  Families,  ber  of  families  to  buildings  used  for 

dwelling  purposes,  we  find  a  situation 

not  nearly  as  encouraging.  On  the  average  there  are  1.35  fam- 
ilies to  every  building  devoted  to  human  habitation.  This  is  a 
higher  proportion  of  families  to  dwellings  than  is  found  in  nine 
larger  cities,  and  is  exceeded  by  only  two  of  the  ten  cities  next 
below  Minneapolis  in  population,  namely,  Jersey  City  and  Provi- 
dence, cities  admittedly  crowded  in  character. 

Minneapolis  Low          The  census  reports  give  the  number  of  fam- 
as  a  City  of  Homes,     ilies  in  each  city  and  the  number  of  build- 
ings used  for  dwelling  purposes.     Based  on 

these  figures,  we  have  prepared  a  chart  showing  how  Minneapolis 
compares  with  other  cities  as  a  city  of  homes.  (Plate  IX.)  In- 
dianapolis stands  highest  with  the  possibility  of  84%  of  her  fam- 
ilies living  in  buildings  by  themselves,  while  in  Minneapolis,  only 
49  out  of  every  hundred  of  the  families  can  so  live.  In  other 
words,  if  all  the  families  in  Minneapolis  were  to  be  distributed  as, 
evenly  as  possible  throughout  the  present  number  of  buildings( 
used  for  dwelling  purposes,  less  than  half  would  be  privileged  to 
dwell  by  themselves  and  51  out  of  every  hundred  would  live  in 
houses  containing  two  families. 

The  Drift  Toward  The  last  column  of  figures  in  Table  15  indi- 
Tenement  Life.  cates  that  even  thirteen  years  ago,  Minne- 

apolis had  developed  a  considerable  tene- 
ment population.  At  that  time,  4.5%  of  the  people  lived  in  build- 
ings containing  three  or  more  families.  In  ten  larger  cities  the 
proportion  was  smaller.  Similar  figures  are  not  included  in 
the  census  of  1910,  and  consequently  the  comparison  cannot  be 

94 


HOUSING  PROBLEMS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS 

made  as  to  that  date,  but  the  probability  is  that  the  proportion 
of  Minneapolis  people  who  dwell  in  multiple  houses  has  doubled 
in  the  last  thirteen  years.  At  least,  from  all  accounts,  it  is  evi- 
dent that  our  city  is  fast  growing  away  from  the  wholesomfiness 
of  the  individual  home. 


Plate  IX  shows  how  Minneapolis  compares  with  other  cities  as  a  "city 

of  homes." 


95 


MINNEAPOLIS  CIVIC  &  COMMERCE  ASSOCIATION 


II 

3  if 


°>s  . 

W  tf 

M  pq  EC 

pa  <j  o 


o     a 
fe     o 

SO 
oa 

Ou      cS 
M     M 


total  number 
habit  buildings 
milies  as  indi- 
nt number  of 
s  evenly  as  pos- 
ent number  of 
g  purposes. 


Petages  of  the  p 
of  families  which  wo 
containing  one  or  m 
cated,  provided  the 
families  were  distrib 
sible  throughout  th 
buildings  used  for  d 


til!!!! 


3SrH^OOU3r-IC$C<l''«^W>W)l> 

COT-HT— irHr- irHi— IT— Hi-Hi— IT— HrHi— ir- HT— IT— H 


O   CO   i—l   t'j  O  CO   r-H   O   t--   CVJ  CO   CO 


in  10  iq  o  rH  co  iq  T-H  Oi 

COT-lr-lr-ICOT— ICOCOr- 1 


T—  IT—  ICOi—  ICO 


«o  co  co  co  co  iq  iq  co  iq  oj  •*  i>-  co 

CO  T— I    T— I    T— I    T— I 


COt-COOi"*OiO?DCOThlOi^T-IO 
QOr-  IGOCOCOCvlCOCOCOCOCOT-ICOT-l 


ocooocoocoooooio 


^  tq^  r-^  co^  co^  co^  co^  o_  c± 
'  t--^  to*  T— T  T— T  co"^  co~  co~  t-^~  o" 

COCOCOT— IT-H.T-ICOCOCO 


COCOQOOilOCOlOlO«OlOCOt^T—  lOilOOiQOOOOir-  I 

t^^OSOt^OO 
OOT—  l^b-COT—  I^COOii—lt^COCO 


,  OB 


96 


HOUSING  PROBLEMS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS 


97 


MINNEAPOLIS  CIVIC  &  COMMERCE  ASSOCIATION 

REAR  HOUSING  INCREASING 

Shall  We  Give  Up      One  of  the  distinctive  features  of  Minne- 

Our  Back  Yards?         apolis  has  been  the  generous  proportions 

of  its  lot  area,  providing  ample  room  for 

yard  and  garden  with  all  the  civilizing  influence  that  these  assure. 
Inquiry  has  revealed  no  other  large  city  of  the  country  possessing 
the  asset  that  Minneapolis  has  in  these  spacious  yards  and  gar- 
dens. The  time  has  arrived  when  the  people  of  Minneapolis 
must  decide  whether  they  are  going  to  preserve  the  until  now 
prevailing!  custom  as  to  size  of  lots  or  have  them  cut  in  two. 
Yes,  more  than  this,  the  time  is  already  here  when,  unless  a  vigor- 
ous and  concerted  effort  to  put  forth,  our  lots,  except  for  the 
wealthy,  are  absolutely  destined  to  be  shared  with  one  or  more- 
other  families.  Pictures  shown  herewith  will  give  you  the  idea, 
quickly.  Illustration  51  shows  a  cellar  over  which  is  to  be  built 
a  large  front  house  to  completely  hide  the  small  house  to  the  rear. 
Not  even  an  alley  communicates  with  what  will  be  the  rear  house. 
At  the  right  are  seen  the  barns  and  chicken  houses  of  the  neigh- 
bors, of  which  the  woman  in  the  little  house  already  complains. 
She  has  but  shortly  come  from  Denmark  and  the  ways  of  Amer- 
ica are  still  a  source  of  dismay.  "You  are  too  slack,"  she  says. 


No.  52.  The  rear  tenement.  Four-family  tenement  crowded  onto  the 
yard  of  the  one  in  front.  Excess  lot  occupation,  lack  of  conven- 
iences, and  faulty  sanitation. 

98 


HOUSING  PROBLEMS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS 


99 


MINNEAPOLIS  CIVIC  &  COMMERCE  ASSOCIATION 

Illustration  52  shows  a  rear  tenement  moved  onto  the  lot 
behind  the  huge,  unsightly  one  in  front.  The  undesirability  of 
rear  housing  does  not  need  to  be  commented  upon  to  be  appre- 
ciated. Such  houses  are  hidden  from  the  street,  must  accept 
someone's  back  yard  as  their  front  yard  or  go  without,  are  often 
deprived  of  sufficient  light  and  air,  attract  an  undesirable  class 
of  tenants,  and  are  difficult  to  police.  For  example,  the  occu- 
pants of  the  rear  tenement  shown  in  Illustration  52  are  obliged 
to  bring  their  water  from  a  well  situated  only  a  short  distance 
from  an  ancient  privy  vault,  or  else  from  the  butcher  shop  during 
the  hours  it  is  open.  The  building  is  cold  and  dilapidated.  The 
people  in  the  front  tenement  row  throw  ashes  and  garbage  into 
the  yard.  In  the  summer  this  yard  reeks  with  refuse  thrown 
from  the  butcher  shop.  It  is  no  wonder  that  the  people  who  in- 
habit it  are  of  a  sort  notorious  throughout  the  neighborhood. 

Alley  Housing  Illustration  53  shows  an  alley  bordered  by 

Gripping   the   City,      stables  on  one  side,  and  by  dwellings  on 

the  other.     It  is  filthy,  and  when  fully  built 

up  will  present  problems  such  as  Chicago  is  now  concerned  with. 
Similar  instances  of  alley  housing  can  be  found  in  many  parts  of 
the  city.  At  the  rate  of  increase  which  held  between  1900  and 
1910,  Minneapolis  in  30  years  will  have  a  population  of  over 
1,031,000,  in  50  years  it  will  be  a  city  of  2,279,000,  and  St.  Paul 
a  city  of  850,500.  Together  the  population  will  total  over  3,000,- 
000  and  it  will  be  together — together,  if  something  it  not  done  of 
a  preventive  nature,  as  Chicago  is  together — crowded  together. 
What  of  the  hundreds  of  miles  of  Minneapolis  alleys  then? 

Will  Minneapolis  sit  idly  by  unheeding  the  lesson  taught  by 
the  experience  of  Chicago,  Detroit,  Columbus,  Cincinnati  andi 
Washington,  when  each  of  them  has  found  the  problem  of  the 
alley  house  perhaps  the  most  difficult  that  they  have  had  to  face? 
Eloquent  evidence  of  just  what  is  going  to  happen  when  our  back 
yards  and  gardens  become  the  site  of  rear  houses,  or  houses 
which  face  upon  the  alley,  is  presented  in  Illustrations  54  and  55. 
These  are  not  pictures  of  conditions  in  Chicago  or  Cincinnati,  but 
were  taken,  one  in  South  Minneapolis,  and  one  in  North.  Note 
the  almost  entire  lack  of  yards  and  gardens,  and  the  contrast 
between  these  two  pictures  and  Illustration  56.  Unless  some- 
thing is  done  to  stop  it,  the  conditions  which  you  see  in  these  two 

100 


HOUSING  PROBLEMS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS 


101 


MINNEAPOLIS  CIVIC  &  COMMERCE  ASSOCIATION 


102 


HOUSING  PROBLEMS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS 


103 


MINNEAPOLIS  CIVIC  &  COMMERCE  ASSOCIATION 

pictures  are  absolutely  destined  to  be  reproduced  throughout 
Minneapolis.  Instead  of  having  two  rows  of  houses  the  length 
of  each  block  as  we  now  have,  there  will  be  four,  just  as  are  al- 
ready developing  in  a  few  places. 

Prophetic  Developments  Just  what  is  liable  to  happen  on  one 
on  Shallow  Lots.  of  these  shallow  lots  is  shown  in  Il- 

lustration 57,  where  the  owner  has 

built  a  house,  not  especially  large,  but  extending  from  the  rear 
lot  line  to  within  10  feet  of  the  front.  Imagine,  if  you  please,  an 
entire  block  built  up  in  this  fashion,  and  there  is  absolutely  noth- 
ing today  to  prevent  this  being  done.  Such  a  condition  would  be 
as  bad  as  that  shown  in  Illustration  58,  and  might,  indeed,  be 
worse.  Here  we  have  a  type  of  tenement  running  straight 
through  from  street  to  street,  possessing  two  frontages,  but  abso- 
lutely no  yard.  This  building  could  not  be  exactly  duplicated 
under  our  present  law,  but  similar  ones,  not  materially  better, 
can  be,  and  are  being  erected. 

A  Young  Ghetto.      One  of  the  districts  containing  the  type  of 
housing  just  described  is  the  home  of  the 

greater  part  of  the  Jewish  population  of  the  city.  They  have  suc- 
ceeded in  making  it  the  worst  district  of  dwelling  houses  which 
Minneapolis  has  at  present.  Stables,  rag-picking  sheds,  piles  cf 
junk,  tenement  dwellings,  and  ill-smelling  outhouses,  fight  for 
the  ground.  Add  a  story  or  two,  and  one  has  Chicago.  Minne- 
apolis should  remember  that  Jacob  Riis  told  us  that  the  condi- 
tions in  New  York  75  years  ago  were  no  worse  than  the  condi- 
tions now  in  many  of  our  mid-western  cities.  The  fact  that  the 
comparative,  rather  than  absolute,  size  of  the  lot  is  small  has 
tended  to  attract  a  population  of  a  character  consonant  with  lower 
social  and  economic  standards.  In  addition,  the  lack  of  regula- 
tion of  single  dwellings  is  more  acutely  evident  upon  small  lots, 
where  the  temptation  is  to  try  to  build  a  dwelling  suitable  for  a 
large  lot  upon  half  the  space.  Cheap  construction  has  hastened 
dilapidation,  and  meant  cold  and  unstable  housing  from  the  first. 
A  foreign  population  not  accustomed  to  American  standards  com- 
ing into  this  locality,  has  demonstrated  to  the  satisfaction  of  any 
one  who  will  take  the  trouble  to  visit  it,  the  undesirability  of 
permitting  the  further  development  of  a  type  of  housing  which 
involves  the  dividing  of  our  present  lot  area  into  two  lots,  with 
the  utter  elimination  of  our  attractive  back  yards  and  gardens. 

104 


HOUSING  PROBLEMS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS 


105 


MINNEAPOLIS  CIVIC  &  COMMERCE  ASSOCIATION 


m 


106 


HOUSING  PROBLEMS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS 

ATTENTION  TO  CITY  PLANNING  NEEDED 

Adapt  Platting  to      This  report  of  housing  conditions  in  Minne- 

Character  of  apolis  would  not  be  complete  if  protest^vere 

Neighborhood.  not  made  against  the  prevailing  practice  of 

permitting   owners   to   plat   new   additions 

without  regard  for  either  the  topography  of  the  land,  the  purpose 
for  which  it  is  to  be  used,  expense  of  construction  or  diagonal 
distance  from  the  city.  With  our  city  developed  to  its  present 
extent,  it  is  possible  to  be  reasonably  sure  for  what  purpose  any 
district  of  the  city  will  probably  be  used,  and  to  plat  it  in  such  a 
way  as  to  best  serve  that  purpose.  The  providing  of  diagonals 
from  the  center  of  the  city  makes  possible  rapid  transportation 
and  thereby  enables  workmen  to  live  in  more  attractive  and  less 
congested  neighborhoods  even  though  at  a  greater  distance  from 
their  employment.  With  ample  provision  made  for  such  arterial 
thoroughfares,  the  minor  streets,  which  are  necessary  only  for 
the  purpose  of  reaching  the  houses  bordering  them,  can  be  made 
quite  narrow.  The  areas  thus  freed  can  be  added  to  the  front 
of  the  lot,  and  incidentally,  the  owners  saved  an  unnecessary  tax 
for  paving.  The  uniform  platting  of  wide  streets  is  expensive 
in  initial  cost  and  in  upkeep,  lessens  the  space  available  for  build- 
ings and  lawns,  and  is  unattractive. 

Shortcomings  In  addition  to  the  short-sightedness,  economic, 
of  Stereotyped  social,  and  aesthetic,  of  uniform,  grid-iron  plat- 
Building,  ting,  Minneapolis  suffers  to  no  inconsiderable 
extent  from  bad  housing  due  to  the  efforts  of 
owners  and  builders  to  construct  uniform  types  of  buildings, 
whether  they  be  single,  duplex,  or  multiple  dwellings,  without 
regard  to  the  size,  shape  or  location  of  the  lot.  An  entire  block 
in  North  Minneapolis  is  covered  with  little  cottages  in  such  a 
way  as  to  cover  the  maximum  amount  of  ground  surface,  where 
the  same  number  of  families,  with  a  slightly  different  grouping 
of  the  houses  and  little  or  no  additional  expense  could  have  been 
accommodated  and  at  the  same  time  the  available  yard  space 
increased  14%.  Few  as  yet  have  seemed  to  think  it  worth 
while  to  spend  time  and  thought  in  planning  a  dwelling  suited  to 
all  the  needs  of  the  working  man  and  his  family.  Such  thought 
as  is  expended  upon  the  construction  of  tenements  and  apart- 
ments seem  directed  almost  entirely  toward  obtaining  the  greatest 
possible  revenue. 

107 


MINNEAPOLIS  CIVIC  &  COMMERCE  ASSOCIATION 

Modern  City  The  great  question  before  the  modern  city  is 
Self-Destructive,  the  question  of  physical  and  social  self-preser- 
vation. Mr.  Henry  Vivian  of  England,  for 
example,  brings  the  charge  that  if  the  modern  city  were  cut  off 
from  the  stream  of  reinforcing  life  which  flows  in  from  the  coun- 
try districts,  its  life  would  be  doomed.  To  quote,  "The  modern 
city  is  not  life-producing.  In  America  today,  if  you  were  to  stop 
the  supply  of  new  blood,  these  great  cities  would  dwindle  and  die. 
The  modern  city  can  only  live,  under  present  circumstances,  by 
using  up  the  energy  of  other  districts.  But  we  believe  it  is  pos- 
sible to  develop  a  modern  city  that  shall  be  life-producing  and 
give  its  people  all  that  comes  from  association  with  one's  fellow, 
all  the  educational  development  and  intellectual  life  and  social 
sense.  You  should  not  lose  contact  with  fresh  air  and  nature. 
We  have  arrived  at  such  a  stage  in  England  that  there  is  not! 
enough  to  supply  the  wastage  of  city  life.  We  have  now  to  see 
that  towns  themselves  shall  be  health-producing." 

Kind  of  Housing    The  kind  of  housing  which  our  city  must  now 
Demanded.  set  her  face  resolutely  to  develop  must  be  hous- 

ing such  as  will  afford  a  sure  basis  for  strong 
bodies,  clear  minds,  and  sturdy  characters  in  her  citizens.  It 
must  do  this  by  providing  for  such  direct  contact  with  light,  air, 
soil,  and  such  sense  of  family  isolation  as  will  be  adequate  to 
produce  the  physical  and  spiritual  well-being  which  we  have 
shown  to  be  dependent  upon  good  housing,  and  upon  which,  in 
turn,  good  housing  in  a  large  degree  depends. 


108 


HOUSING  PROBLEMS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS 

AND  FINALLY 

A  new  spirit  is  developing  in  industry,  a  spirit  born  of  the 
realization  that  all  industry  suffers  through  the  misfortune  of 
any  factor.  The  employer  fails  to  prosper  as  his  men  fail  to 
prosper.  Bad  housing  for  the  workmen  means  bad  business  for 
the  one  who  hires.  In  the  light  of  this  spirit,  the  primary  ques- 
tion is  not  "What  can  the  tenant  afford?"  it  is  "What  can  Minne- 
apolis afford  ?"  If  we  are  to  develop  in  Minneapolis  the  highest 
type  of  civilization,  if  industry  is  to  thrive  permanently,  if  art 
and  music  are  to  serve  their  highest  purposes,  we  must  first  rec- 
ognize as  an  essential  prerequisite  to  the  realization  of  these  high 
ideals,  the  providing  of  a  home  life  for  every  family,  rich  or  poor, 
that  shall  insure  to  them  their  inalienable  rights  to  sanitation, 
safety,  ventilation,  privacy,  sunlight,  space  and  beauty. 


109 


MINNEAPOLIS  CIVIC  &  COMMERCE  ASSOCIATION 


j 

z         » 

\t 

| 

*  *~ih\  § 

»o        -  §       '5 

,      M|    J 

g 
1 

0                                                     S 

M 

h   Q             - 

1 

>  S      -s 

•| 

OS 

0 

S 

To:i  l 

1             ti 

H 

g 

»  rs    i 

5               0 

•< 

I 

^          a 

a 

j; 

J                1  Q           1 

g 

1 

1          »- 
B         .2 

— 

**• 

trj                   .            ,  —    Ul          (Z          C 

1 

1 

1°  ^aai  ^  \ 

>                  ^ 

- 

:     Q        Q    ° 

c 

Hi 

«     1           y« 

I    Q         J^ 

0 

•43 
cd 

1*1 

G'      .                                     *          g 

s 

i«               i    ! 

^  at                         vi  *~        Z 

E°    «  .  i     o 

.S 

Q 
Q 

S 

S 
3 

Q                  ^    ^                   :     S          5 

3      S3      1||5      1 

y 

< 

u 

M 

a        J        jljf        " 

I 

g_l 

c^         s.             i  S     £ 

s                    '^ 

s 

^                  Q                          rvi    (t 

S 

I      a 

*V                                      V) 

H                    ^g 

«             .= 

"     S                 W'           1           o- 

0 

'1           3!       1       1       T! 

i 

|    ^      1    i  %  h  1  1 

s 

(J5           «                  °                  J           »    c 

2             ^             5        ^J   c 

1 

1   1 

i||    1     * 

1    1 

i    i      ~    1 

1                       0 

o           1 

|    ^       i     i. 

ffi 

c 

< 

ti 

S  £               "So 

*o 

i 

1 

1  "             .  i  -6  1 

(0 

Q            -2 

!>|    f 

,  !   i    <  J 

i     i-i 

•s        - 
s 

°"  Q  1       ^ 

^   g   Q        c« 

1   1 

J           5 

iH  *    i  i-J 

1    1 

5 

<?      »      3          s       «  S 

5          - 

h 

b 

i                     « 
Q                 5 

1            <:        w      -.  5| 

1     i    ^i^ 

S        I  „, 

rt               -0      fad 

•S         £   05 
i        E  < 

[ 

S    <         1 

ri           «           2     S 
s           5           g     | 

oa               a.              Kb 

i       i  S 
•=         t!   t^ 
i       «S  at 

110 


HOUSING  PROBLEMS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS 


I  t 

5     Q 
ft. 


«*'i 


>  S 


»l 

d^ 

J 


Z 


I     si 


5 
!     II 


5  ' 


Recommended  for  photograph  to  show 
Recommended  for  special  investigatiou  on  accou 

*j 

1 

1 

s 

MH 

1 

a 

•n 

.1 

j« 

i 

> 

I 

fl 

1 
t 

<a 

$ 
0 

I 

| 

1 

t 

% 

*]-----. 

Ill 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY, 
BERKELEY 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 

Books  not  returned  on  time  are  subject  to  a  fine  of 
50c  per  volume  after  the  third  day  overdue,  increasing 
to  $1.00  per  volume  after  the  sixth  day.  Books  not  in 
demand  may  be  renewed  if  application  is  made  before 
expiration  of  loan  period. 


V  £0 1928 


OCT  2 

MAY  23  1947 


LOm-4,'23 


YC  26 


393441 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


